Post Now Also Sorts Packages at the Mail Center

Fewer letters, more packages: The Swiss Post is responding to this development. At the mail center in Härkingen, employees are now sorting not only letters but also packages. Thanks to the new package sorting system, the Post can optimally utilize synergies between letter and package processing in the newly available spaces of the mail center.

(Bern/Härkingen) In the municipality of Härkingen, the Post is also creating around 80 additional jobs. “The center in Härkingen helps ensure that letters and packages are delivered quickly and reliably to every corner of our country,” said Federal Councilor Albert Rösti at the opening event.

For the first time, the Post is operating a pure package sorting system in an existing mail center, and employees are sorting letters and packages of all sizes at the same location. The Post is responding to the declining letter volumes and the long-term increase in package volumes. In the last ten years alone, letter volumes have decreased by one third. At the same time, the Post expects that package volumes will increase again in the long term. With the new sorting system, the Post is reacting to this change.

The new sorting machine sorts up to 10,000 packages per hour

Packages from the region are now delivered by post offices to the center, sorted there, and directly delivered in the region. The location in the industrial district of the municipality of Härkingen, with rail and highway connections, is ideal for this purpose. The new sorting machine at the Härkingen mail and package center sorts up to 10,000 packages per hour. That amounts to up to 30 million packages per year. The Post has invested a total of 50 million francs in the conversion of the originally pure mail center. This has created around 80 new jobs in the municipality of Härkingen. A total of 740 employees now work in letter sorting and around 160 in package sorting – about half of the new employees transferred within the Post.

The perfect example of implementing the strategy “Post of Tomorrow”

Synergies between letter and package processing are optimally utilized in the newly available spaces of the mail center. “The package facility in the mail center is the perfect example of implementing our strategy ‘Post of Tomorrow’. We process letters and packages here hand in hand. This is efficient, conserves resources, and secures jobs,” said Roberto Cirillo, CEO of the Post. “We invest to provide contemporary services. And we do this in both the physical and digital worlds. I am convinced that this is the way to remain relevant in the future.”

“Letters and packages for the whole of Switzerland”

Federal Councilor Albert Rösti, head of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (UVEK), said at today’s opening: “It is important that the population throughout Switzerland can count on the services of the Post. The center in Härkingen contributes to ensuring that letters and packages are delivered quickly and reliably to every corner of our country.”

Photo: Swiss Post