Swiss Post with Parcel Sorting in Mail Center

More and more packages and fewer letters: This is how customers today use the services of the Post. The Post is preparing for the future and is investing a lot of money. In addition to the already realized four regional parcel centers, it is focusing on four more locations: Utzenstorf, Pratteln, Buchs (AG), and Rümlang. And the mail center Härkingen will receive a parcel sorting facility.

(Bern/Härkingen) The volume of parcels processed by the employees of Swiss Post is enormous: While annual parcel volumes grew by five to seven percent in recent years due to booming online commerce, this trend accelerated dramatically last year, advancing three years in one go. In 2020, the Post counted over 191 million packages on its sorting systems after six consecutive annual records – that is 23 percent more than the previous year. In contrast, the volume of letters has decreased by over 40 percent since 2002.

Even today, daily parcel volumes are very high: In the first quarter, postal workers delivered 34 percent more packages to households. The number of sorted packages per day currently fluctuates between 750,000 and 950,000 shipments. That is as many as during the pre-Christmas season. With the largest merger in the history of the Post – the organizational integration of the two areas of parcels and letters into a single unit with over 20,000 employees – the Post has repositioned itself in response to the shrinking letter market and the enormous parcel volumes. “This is an important step, but it is not sufficient as a standalone measure,” says Johannes Cramer, Head of Logistics Services at the Post. He has been leading the newly created and thus largest division of the Post since January. “We also want to provide first-class public service in the long term. To this end, we are investing heavily in infrastructure: With around 1.2 billion Swiss francs, we are expanding our parcel facilities and doubling our sorting capacities by 2030,” Johannes Cramer looks ahead.

Five New Locations

New regional sorting centers are intended to shorten processing windows for parcel shipments and avoid long transport routes: The parcels collected from the region will be sorted in the region itself. With Cadenazzo (TI), Vétroz (VS), Ostermundigen (BE), and Untervaz (GR), four of the 15 new regional locations planned by 2030 have already been realized and are in operation. Five building applications for centers in Utzenstorf (BE), Buchs (AG), Pratteln (BL), Rümlang (ZH), and Härkingen (SO) are planned or already in the approval process.

The Post is realizing five more regional parcel centers as seen here in the regional parcel center Untervaz (GR) after Vétroz (VS), Cadenazzo (TI), and Ostermundigen (BE).

The regional parcel centers in Pratteln and Rümlang are illustrative examples that new areas do not always need to be developed. In Pratteln, the Post intends to convert the property of a former tire factory for around 75 million Swiss francs. Part of the property in the industrial area on Güterstrasse is already used by the Post for bulky goods logistics. The Post will rent an additional part in the future. The existing building will remain in its basic structure, with only targeted modifications. After the planned conversion, expected to start in autumn 2022, the Post will employ around 500 employees in Pratteln. It is expected to create around 120 additional jobs. The planned regional parcel center will sort up to 160,000 packages per day.

In Rümlang, the Post is also moving into an existing building in the Riedmatt industrial area and is converting it for around 8 million Swiss francs. From spring 2022, around 70 employees will sort packages from the Zurich-North area here. These jobs are newly created by the Post. Rümlang will sort around 60,000 packages per day in the future. Today, these packages go to the Frauenfeld parcel center.

Mail Center Receives Parcel Facility and Secures Jobs

The Post is taking a different approach in the Härkingen area. Because, unlike the parcel volume, the number of letters has decreased by 40 percent since 2002, the Post is utilizing the available space in the large national mail sorting center in the Gäu industrial zone. It is expected to invest around 60 million Swiss francs to convert and install a parcel sorting facility directly next to the A1 motorway in the mail center.

The mail sorting center Härkingen will receive a sorting facility for parcels on freed-up spaces due to the shrinking letter volume.

For the new parcel sorting facility in the mail center, the Post needs around 200 employees. It is planned that these positions will also be filled by employees currently working in letter sorting. This way, the Post secures jobs and commits to the current location in the canton of Solothurn. In the partially converted mail center, it is expected that up to 162,000 packages and 5,000 bulky goods shipments will be sorted daily starting in spring 2023.

Photo: © Swiss Post