175 years in the service of people

From 2021, the network stabilizes at a figure of around 800 self-operated branches. Swiss Post’s access points are accessible to more than 90 percent of the population within 20 minutes.

15,000 new secure letter boxes throughout Switzerland replace the existing letter boxes.

New customer service centers available under a single number in Fribourg and Schaffhausen.

Send a parcel or withdraw cash at your own front door? Swiss Post’s home service makes it possible for authorized persons.

Customers’ habits are changing: fewer and fewer letters and parcels are being dropped off at post offices, and the number of over-the-counter inpayments is falling. A reduction from 3,500 to 2,500 post offices is planned.

In the wake of the PTT era coming to an end, the swisspost.ch website emerges as the most important digital access point.

PostBus introduces the “PubliCar”, a flexible on-demand bus and the ideal alternative to scheduled services in sparsely populated areas.

The first Postomat comes into service at the Bern Schanzenpost post office

Customers can now open a Postcheque account at any large post office.

Swiss Post makes early efforts to automate certain services. In 1912, the first dark green, German-made stamp vending machines appear in lobbies in some of the bigger cities. In addition to stamps, the machines can soon also dispense postcards.

The first automobile mail route connects Bern with Detligen. The distinctive “toot-to-tooot”, however, is not heard until years later.

Swiss Post is assigned a “Postcheque and giro service”. Thanks to its dense network of 4,000 operating locations, it offers ideal conditions for this. In principle, anyone can now open an account and make cashless transfers.

Around 26 monumental Swiss Post buildings are built in cantonal capitals and other large towns. With both its large and small post office buildings, Swiss Post represents the new federal state in all regions of Switzerland. The post offices in the municipalities are also home to the sub-postmasters. In some cases, the sub-postmaster dynasties last for generations.

While postal services in the early 19th century are still a private matter, it is not too long before cantonal postal administrations emerge. With the foundation of the Swiss Confederation, the cantonal postal administrations are merged into the Swiss federal postal service in 1849.