What links do you still have with Swiss Post?

Oh, there are so many! I have been retired for a long time – since 31 August 1989 – but I still take the train to Basel once a month. That is where the PTT union, which is called Syndicom now, holds the retired employees gathering on the first Monday of every month.

For 33 years, she sorted mail in the Basel 2 mail center – during the day, at night and at the weekend. How did she originally come to work for Swiss Post?

My sister was married to a railway employee. She told me that Swiss Post Basel 2 letter mail was looking for sorters on 1 March 1956. I registered, was given a job and felt both fortunate and grateful.

What special memories do you have?

So many. The introduction of postcodes, for example. The demolition of Swiss Post Basel 2 in January 1975. The countless New Year’s cards – there were always so many to sort that retired staff would lend a hand. And just a few years before I retired, sorting machines were introduced. That concerned me: I was fascinated but it made me sad at the same time as many jobs were lost.

And your contact with your work colleagues?

Interpersonal relationships were formative through all those years. I helped found a women’s postal gymnastics club – and I'm pleased to say that it still exists to this day.

How did someone born and bred in Lucerne come to live in Steffisburg?

That’s actually a funny story: I got to know a family from Steffisburg at a samples fair in Basel. These people from the Bernese Oberland told me about a free apartment in their chalet with a beautiful view over the mountains. After retiring, I spontaneously decided to move there. When I was 85, I moved into the village proper, to an apartment near the bus stop, the shops and doctor. I also made some very good new friends here in Steffisburg.

You are a cactus lover!

Yes, all my life I have taken great pleasure in cactuses. Some are 20 years old. And they flower every year!

Copyright: Monika Flückiger