Press releases

Swiss Post is punctual: requirements for letters, parcels and newspapers fulfilled again in 2023

Swiss Post fulfilled all of the Confederation’s regulatory quality requirements in 2023. The Swiss public received their letters, parcels and newspapers on time from Swiss Post’s delivery staff. Swiss Post exceeded its benchmarks both for letters (for which the Confederation requires punctuality of 97 percent) and for parcels and newspapers (which have a punctuality requirement of 95 percent). This is mainly thanks to staff in the sorting centers and mail carriers on the delivery rounds.

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Swiss Post’s customers were able to rely on Swiss Post staff once again in 2023. Throughout the country, customers received their letters, parcels and newspapers on time. Last year, 1.64 billion addressed letters were sent. The Confederation has set Swiss Post the target of delivering 97 percent of letters punctually. In 2023, 97.3 percent of A Mail letters and 99.5 percent of B Mail letters arrived in letter boxes on time − measured against the legal requirements of “posting day + 1 working day” for A Mail and “posting day + 3 working days” for B Mail. In 2023, Swiss Post also sorted and delivered 185 million parcels, for which the Confederation has set a punctuality benchmark of 95 percent. Once again, Swiss Post exceeded this target: 95.7 percent of Priority parcels and 99.6 percent of Economy parcels arrived punctually at their recipients when measured against the legal requirements. As of 2022, Swiss Post is obliged to deliver subscription newspapers by 12.30 p.m. in areas where there are no early-morning delivery services for publishers. By achieving an on-time delivery rate of 98.5 percent, Swiss Post staff have also exceeded the Confederation’s quality target of 95 percent in this area.

Johannes Cramer, Head of Logistics Services and Member of Swiss Post Executive Management, is full of praise for his teams: “The quality of our services is mainly thanks to all the thousands of dedicated employees who give their best for our customers every day − whether it’s in our sorting centers or on delivery rounds across Switzerland, working in all weathers.”

Adjusted calculation methodology as of 2023

To ensure that the figures remain clear in the long term, the measurement methodology for letters and parcels was adjusted in line with regulatory requirements in 2023, as agreed with the Federal Postal Services Commission (PostCom). For instance, in the measurements up to and including 2022, Swiss Post had included Saturday as an acceptance day for A and B Mail letters and two instead of three working days for processing of Economy parcels, which was not required by legislation. As of 2023, Swiss Post measures the delivery times based on the regulatory requirements of “posting day + 1 working day” and “posting day + 3 working days”. For the measurement of delivery times for letters, an independent institute evaluates data from around 65,000 test consignments across the whole year. For parcels, an independent inspection agency within Swiss Post evaluates the data for all individual parcel consignments for a period of 52 weeks. The independent Swiss Post inspection agency also measures compliance with the delivery deadline of 12.30 p.m. for subscription newspapers in areas without early-morning delivery. The measurement is based on random surveys carried out by delivery staff. The supervisory authority PostCom reviews and approves the results.

Measurements at a glance

Consignments Regulatory requirement 2023[2] 2022[1]
Letters P+1[3] 97,0% 97,3% 97,2%
Letters P+3[3] 97,0% 99,5% 99,3%
Parcels P+1[3] 95,0% 95,7% 95,7%
Parcels P+3[3] 95,0% 99,6% 96,9%
Newspapers 95,0% 98,5% 98,8%

 

1 The figures for 2022 were gathered using the old methodology that applied until 2022 and, as a result, are not comparable. Only the figures for newspapers are comparable, as the methodology for this category has not been adjusted based on regulatory requirements.
2 If the 2023 figures for letters and parcels were recalculated using the old methodology, they would look like this: letters P+1 96.7%; letters P+3 99.4%; parcels P+1 95.7%; parcels P+2 96.7%.
3 In the abbreviation “P+”, P stands for “posting day”, and the figure stands for the number of working days available for processing as per legal requirements. Working days are Monday to Friday.

 

Information:

Swiss Post Media Unit, Stefan Dauner, +41 58 341 19 22, presse@swisspost.ch