Protest against higher postal rates
In an open letter to Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard, publishers, associations, and unions have spoken out against higher postal rates for newspapers and magazines.
If Swiss Post goes through with the price increase, many titles will have to give up. According to the letter, the diversity of the press should be given more weight than Swiss Post's deficit in newspaper delivery. The rate increase is "unnecessary", as Swiss Post generated a net profit of CHF 626 million in 2013. The letter calls on Leuthard to intervene with Swiss Post regarding the rate increase.
Increase of six centimes
Swiss Post is increasing prices by two centimes per copy in 2014, 2015 and 2016, i.e. by a total of six centimes. Swiss Post had already standardized its price system for newspaper delivery in 2013.
The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB) writes that this has already increased the cost of mailing the members' press by six percent. It fears a cost increase of up to 50 percent for the member press. For small newspapers, the higher rates mean an increase of 30 percent, as Marie-Josée Kuhn, editor-in-chief of the Unia newspaper Work, explained in Bern.
Both the SGB and Work have signed the letter. The SP, the Greens, other trade unions and staff associations, the Swiss Trade Association and the Swiss Bishops' Conference have also signed. The Geneva newspaper Le Courrier even went one step further and officially challenged Swiss Post's rate increase with the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom). The decision is still pending.
Swiss Post: 100 million minus per year
Swiss Post defended itself against the accusations: "Swiss Post makes an annual loss of around 100 million francs on newspaper delivery," said a spokeswoman when asked. Swiss Post had already accommodated the press by postponing the rate increase by one year and spreading it over three years.
