Switzerland currently enjoys a reliable, high-quality and reasonably priced universal service for postal services and payment transaction services, which is financed using proceeds from Swiss Post’s services and the residual monopoly.

Without this residual monopoly, the funding of the universal service would be called into question as far as Swiss Post is concerned. In light of declining letter volumes, Swiss Post revenues alone will not suffice in the long term. The contribution from the residual monopoly would need to be offset. There are, however no alternatives of equal value in sight. The inevitable consequence would therefore be a reduction in performance and quality in relation to the provision of the universal service.

At the same time, the widespread expectation that full market deregulation would lead to falling prices is impracticable in the case of the letters market. Swiss Post expects that the opposite would happen, with steadily rising prices, because the declining volumes would lead to higher unit costs (see also the Pricing dossier). While in terms of the monopoly – the applicable law sets fixed price caps – prices are regulated by the Federal Council, without the monopoly, prices would generally need to be determined by the market. For these reasons, Swiss Post has concluded that the ending of the residual monopoly would also bring more disadvantages than advantages to its customers.