Mailed today, delivered tomorrow
A parcel can be dropped off today in Lausanne and delivered tomorrow in Chur. Almost half a million parcels travel through Switzerland every night to reach their recipients the next morning. An insight into the nocturnal activities at the Härkingen parcel center.
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And goodbye: the parcels leave the parcel center in the dead of night.
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Lights out, off to bed. Just when the day is coming to an end for most people, it’s only beginning at the three Swiss parcel centers. At the Härkingen parcel center, our staff work almost 24 hours a day, from 6.30 in the morning until 2 o’clock at night. Parcels arrive, are sorted by destination region and then sent there – around the clock. Every parcel posted in Switzerland passes through at least one of the three parcel centers. Every day, a total of up to half a million parcels are sorted. During the Christmas period, it’s double that number.
The journey to the parcel center
When a parcel is dropped off at the post office counter, the first step is to transport it to the nearest distribution base, where the parcel is scanned, weighed and measured. This information, along with the address, is then assigned to the barcode. The current location of the parcel can now be viewed online at any time at swisspost.ch. If you’re registered as a recipient at our Customer Center, you’ll receive advance notification of the delivery free of charge by SMS or e-mail.
From the distribution base, the parcels continue their journey to one of the three parcel centers, where they are sorted by delivery region and then loaded for shipment. The journey continues by rail and road right across the country. In the delivery region, the parcels are transferred to delivery vans and transported to the recipients. Lights on, up you get, your parcel is here. While you were sleeping, your parcel was travelling.
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Parcels on the road: trucks take the parcels to the parcel center.
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Manual work: the parcels are unloaded and placed on the belt conveyors at the parcel center.
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The parcels are first scanned, and then go into the 2.5 kilometre sorting system.
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The parcels are sorted and loaded into trays bound for the various delivery regions.
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The journey continues!
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Precision work: the yellow containers are loaded onto trains.
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Loading onto trains not only saves time, it’s also more environmentally friendly.
