Thinktank calls for radical overhaul of postal system in Switzerland

With digitalisation and changing user habits posing an existential threat to the Swiss postal service, a thinktank has called for its business model to be turned on its head. Here is an overview of the reforms they are proposing. 

Avenir Suisse proposes huge shakeup of Swiss Post

Avenir Suisse, a thinktank that develops reform ideas for Switzerland and Swiss companies, has come up with a radical new plan to modernise Swiss Post and make it fit for the future, Watson reports. Their proposals go much further than recent reforms announced by the Federal Council to water down punctuality targets.

According to Avenir Suisse, the traditional postal service has hardly any role in people’s everyday lives anymore: utility bills are paid online, letters are sent digitally, and even newspapers are read on mobile phones. By 2030, the average person in Switzerland will only receive 100 letters per year - the equivalent of two per week. At the same time, the number of parcels a person receives is expected to significantly increase. 

Thinktank advocates scrapping daily letter deliveries

To cope with these changes, Avenir Suisse says that Swiss Post cannot continue to promise daily letter deliveries. Instead, deliveries should come just twice a week, and the 12.30pm delivery requirement would be lifted. From 2035, this could be reduced to one delivery per week. Faced with competition from nationwide providers like DPD, Planzer and DHL, Avenir Suisse also considers it unnecessary for Swiss Post to continue to offer government-regulated parcel delivery services from 2030 onwards. 

On top of these major changes, the thinktank argued that set requirements for the number of Swiss Post branches in Swiss cities should be abolished - currently, every person needs to be within 20 minutes of a Swiss Post branch. This would see the number of Swiss Post offices fall from around 2.000 currently to about 600 in future. 

Any reform likely to face strong opposition in Swiss parliament

Avenir Suisse says that the reforms could save Swiss Post over 100 million francs per year. However, if they even made it to the legislative phase, they are likely to face strong resistance in the Swiss parliament, where a much less radical reform designed to water down delivery targets had to contend with fierce opposition. 

As 20 Minuten reports, the idea of major reforms to the postal service also split the opinion of the public. While young people feel relatively relaxed about the prospect of a reform to the postal service, some older people fear their habits being disrupted.