Swiss Post delivered 1 million packages a day in the lead up to Christmas
By Jan de Boer
Between Black Friday and the Christmas holidays, Swiss Post delivered a million parcels to homes across Switzerland every single day. After increasing staff numbers to cope with the Christmas rush, the Swiss postal service delivered a grand total of 23,4 million parcels over the period.
More staff in Swiss post offices to cope with Christmas rush
Swiss Post announced on Monday that 1,2 percent more packages were delivered this year than last. Compared with 2019, the post office delivered 30 percent more packages, a consequence of more online shopping due to the COVID pandemic.
In a statement given to the press, the company said they “have been preparing for this intensive period for months,” creating 730 jobs to work around the Christmas backlog. 200 staff members have also been hired on temporary work contracts since the beginning of November, which allowed 200.000 more parcels to be sorted a day.
Number of parcels increased while letters declined
When it came to delivery, 700 more delivery runs were done each day, which meant, unlike 2020, the postal service never had any significant backlog in warehouses. In order to achieve this, Swiss Post rented 300 more vehicles to cope with increased demand.
One notable trend is the decline in the number of letters being delivered, which dropped by 1 million compared with the same period in 2020. Despite the downward trend, Swiss Post was happy to announce a new annual record on December 14, when 1,2 million parcels were delivered in a single day.
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Jan studied History at the University of York and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Though born in York, Jan has lived most of his life in Zurich and has worked as a journalist, writer and editor since 2016.
While he has plunged head-first back into life in Switzerland since returning to the country in 2020, he still enjoys a taste of home at pub quizzes and karaoke nights.Read more