Today, when we talk about the postal service, we mean the delivery of a paper letter by post. But this could change one day, as Swiss Post could soon be officially delivering letters digitally. The Federal Council wants to amend the basic mandate for Swiss Post. It submitted the corresponding revision of the ordinance for consultation on Wednesday.

The basic postal service should take greater account of the high level of digitization among the population and companies and be expanded to include digital services, the Federal Council explains in the press release.

Lower requirements for physical delivery

It sees the newly planned digital delivery channel as a supplement that should not replace physical basic delivery. However, the Federal Council is also using the revision of the ordinance to relax the quality requirements for physical mail delivery. The transit times for letters, parcels and subscribed daily newspapers are to be reduced to 90 percent for the basic service (currently: letters 97 percent, parcels and subscribed daily newspapers 95 percent). In addition, Swiss Post will no longer have to deliver letters "to houses inhabited all year round", but "to settlements inhabited all year round". According to the Federal Council, all of this should enable Swiss Post to "optimize its processes from a business management perspective and thus provide basic services more efficiently and cost-effectively".

The Confederation is also including more digitalization in the basic mandate with regard to the banking services provided by Swiss Post, namely a means of payment accepted for online payments (e.g. debit card or payment app) and digital access to electronic payment transactions (e-banking).

Post wants fundamental political discussion

In an initial statement, Swiss Post describes the proposed changes to the ordinance as an "important step". In recent years, the company has specialized in the secure and reliable transmission of digital information, the company explains. Nicole Burth, member of the Group Executive Board and Head of Digital Services, says: "If a customer sends a letter by post in future, she will have the option of posting it digitally. In this case, the recipient can then choose whether they want to receive the item physically or digitally. This gives customers the freedom of choice. We are convinced that the hybrid letter is the right way forward for Switzerland and for the modernization of the universal postal service."

As far as the lowering of the quality standards for physical delivery is concerned, these allow more leeway in the event of extraordinary events such as train failures or tunnel closures, Swiss Post continues. Around 2 percent of all Swiss households would be affected by the second relaxation - regarding delivery to all settlements inhabited all year round instead of all houses inhabited all year round. They would receive alternative delivery solutions and the changeover would take place over a period of 10 years.

However, Swiss Post does not want to leave it at the changes to the ordinance drawn up by the Federal Administration. In the press release, the Group writes that it is "dependent on a fundamental political discussion about a modern universal service mandate from 2030 onwards."

The federal government is also keeping this option open. With the revision of the ordinance, it is responding to a report on the modernization and stabilization of Swiss Post that was adopted in spring 2024. The proposed "easing" of the quality requirements should save Swiss Post up to 45 million francs a year, according to the press release on the report. In the medium to longer term, however, a comprehensive modernization of the basic service is unavoidable, the Federal Council concedes. However, it has not yet decided on further measures. However, the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) is to submit the key figures for a revision of the Postal Services Act in the course of 2025 with regard to the structure of the universal service from 2030. (René Jaun/fsi/swi)

This article first appeared in Netzwoche.

Hiking has long since established itself as a popular winter activity. Around 1.5 million people use the approximately 6,000 kilometers of signposted winter hiking trails and snowshoe routes in Switzerland. In order to improve signposting, the Swiss Post Promotion Prize 2024 will also be awarded in winter for the first time.

The winners of the first winter edition are the municipality of Lenk in the Bernese Oberland and Sesselbahn und Skilifte Feldis AG in Graubünden. The municipality of Lenk is using the funding to optimize the marking of the 9.5-kilometre Lenk-Simmenfälle circular hiking trail, which is also suitable for families with a gentle gradient. In Feldis, the prize will be used to replace the existing temporary markings on the Mutta panoramic winter route with modern, standard-compliant signposts.

"Reliable signage is essential," emphasizes Dario Herrmann, Live Communication Specialist at Swiss Post. It not only helps hikers to find their way safely, but also protects nature and wildlife from disturbance. The selection criteria for the award include accessibility by public transport, snow safety and compliance with the official quality criteria of the Swiss hiking trails.

With the expansion to include winter hiking trails, Swiss Post is sending a clear signal for the sustainable development of this gentle winter sports alternative.

Thursday is World Love Letter Day. Swiss Post and the Neu agency are using this occasion for an activation as part of their image communication. The writing of letters is recalled with various subjects as the most personal, emotional and accurate way to express words of love. In addition, the letter is absolutely stress-free for everyone involved - an absolute USP, for example compared to expressions of love in public spaces. The Neu agency generated 100 percent of the subjects using AI.

To make efficient use of the relevance of the specific date, the campaign only runs for exactly one day, but still reaches the Swiss population nationwide in real, physical everyday life.

This is made possible by the use of digital advertising space from Livesystems. The DOOH sites of the out-of-home advertising marketer thus become "Love Systems" for a day. Swiss Post is also activating the campaign via its own social media channels.

Responsible at Post: Janina Gasser (Social Media Manager), Michel Sulser (Team Leader Themes & Campaigns). Responsible at Livesystems: Musa Ucar (Key Account Manager). Responsible at Neu Creative Agency: Simon Rehsche, Nico Ammann, Sandy Pfuhl, Adam Schwarz, Elif Soysal, Maison Fitzgerald, Fadi Nemr.

Swiss Post offers exciting opportunities for starting a career in diverse and sometimes unexpected areas. Swiss Post is launching the "Jump in" campaign to make this known to young people looking for an apprenticeship and to position itself as an attractive employer and trainer. It shows in a cool way the variety of 19 different apprenticeships in which apprentices at Swiss Post can immerse themselves in a varied and exciting training program from day one.

Together with the creative agency Neu, Swiss Post has developed "Jump in", a campaign platform that presents itself in a completely new look and integrates numerous measures across all touchpoints.

At the heart of the campaign platform is an interactive film, which was realized by the Pas Mal agency from concept to direction to production. The gamified film allows apprenticeship seekers to "jump" directly into the various apprenticeships, offering different insights depending on their individual decisions during the experience. This makes the campaign an exciting opportunity for apprenticeship seekers to find out which apprenticeship best suits their own wishes.

The campaign is designed for use on various social media platforms from TikTok to Snapchat, on gaming apps and DOOHs in order to reach as many young people as possible throughout Switzerland.

In addition to the digital campaign, Swiss Post is also focusing on direct contact with young people. At the careers fair and during school visits, interested young people can talk to apprentices and Swiss Post employees.

On the Landing page of the post office young people can find out more about the individual apprenticeships and apply for the more than 750 apprenticeship vacancies across Switzerland. Comprehensive information is provided here about the various options to enable the perfect individual start to a career.

Responsible at Swiss PostJulia Trottmann, Linda Aerni, Céline Bonhôte, Tabea Riesen, Jan Bill. Responsible at Neu Creative AgencyAdrian Staehelin, Adriana Stepanov, Andrea Braschler, Bettina Beyeler, Elif Soysal, Fadi Nemr, Finn van Grondel, Ibtissam Aiterrami, Pian Gumpp, Nico Ammann, Romana Schmidtpeter, Sandy Pfuhl. Responsible for Pas MalJonas Bayona, Lars Näpflin, Noah Nüssli, Valérie Gantenbein. Photography: Joelle Hauser; Severin Wirth.

An in-depth examination revealed that the takeover would eliminate competition in the market for addressed bulk mail items weighing over 50 grams for business customers, the Competition Commission announced on Friday. In addition, Swiss Post would also gain a dominant position in other areas, such as the delivery of newspapers and magazines.

Other prospective buyer

The Quickmail Group had argued that it was no longer economically feasible to continue the business independently due to negative figures. The Competition Commission did not dispute this in its decision. However, a restructuring takeover could only have been permitted if Quickmail was expected to disappear from the market anyway - and customers would have switched to Swiss Post, according to the press release. This was not the case, as another company was also interested in Quickmail.

The Quickmail Group, with its two subsidiaries Quickmail and Quickpac, delivers letters, unaddressed items such as advertising flyers, newspapers and magazines as well as parcels throughout Switzerland. It was not clear from the ComCo's communiqué which company the alternative prospective buyer was. The Competition Commission merely wrote that the prospective buyer had many years of experience in the postal services sector.

"Liberalization has failed"

In a statement, the Quickmail Group expressed its shock at the Weko's decision. The solution negotiated with Swiss Post would have brought stability and continuity to both employees and customers. Instead, 3000 jobs are now at risk.

The company voiced fundamental criticism. The liberalization of the postal market in Switzerland had failed. This is because Swiss Post's residual monopoly in the letter market has ultimately led to a cut-throat battle with unequal competition - while at the same time letter volumes are continuing to fall.

Swiss Post signed the purchase agreement for Quickmail and Quickpac in July (Werbewoche.ch reported). The decision of the Competition Commission is acknowledged, regretted and will now be analyzed in depth. The aim of the takeover would have been to ensure seamless operations for customers, according to Swiss Post. (SDA)

The Swiss Post logo is at least as much a part of everyday Swiss life as Aromat or the Schwing- und Älplerfest. But despite its omnipresence, Swiss Post felt that the logo had not yet managed to perfectly represent the company's outstanding status in the country - so the Group is treating itself to a rebranding for its 175th birthday. The team from Jung von Matt Brand Identity was responsible for this.

"Too many language and color executions and small-scale elements led to inconsistency and difficulties in digital implementation, compromised a consistent brand presence for Swiss Post and made it look cumbersome," according to the agency's analysis. The solution: a renewed logo consisting of "a stylized red Swiss cross accompanied by a concise black P on a postal yellow background," as described in a media release. This should work in all language regions of Switzerland; replace all variants that are currently circulating.

Basis for more flexible communication

"With the modernized logo, Swiss Post is creating the basis for more flexible communication that plays with the elements of color, imagery and typography. What may seem like a slight adjustment at first glance is a huge step for Swiss Post towards more clarity and connectedness. The fact that we were able to support Swiss Post in such a historic and extensive process makes us proud," says Christina Widmann, Executive Design Director at Jung von Matt Brand Identity.

The modernization of the logo, he said, incorporated both the brand's development to date and the Post's vision of the future. Building on a rich brand history, strengths were identified and weaknesses eliminated. The result is a strong visual anchor of trust with a sense of tradition that makes the Swiss Post brand fit for the future.

"The new logo creates more flexibility to communicate in a way that is appropriate for the recipient, depending on the channel and message, without losing the typical Swiss Post character. At the same time, Swiss Post gains efficiency in communication by reducing the variety of logos," says Julius Jäger, Executive Strategy Director at Jung von Matt Brand Identity and responsible for the Swiss Post mandate.

---

Responsible at Jung von Matt Brand Identity: Christina Widmann (Creative Direction), David Lüthi, Pablo Scheidegger (Type Design/Design), Julius Jäger (Strategic Direction), Alessandra Bally (Consulting).

Truttmann brings over 20 years of experience in the advertising market and has profound knowledge of delivery logistics. With 15 years of experience in various management and executive positions at marketers and publishers such as Publicitas, NZZ and Axel Springer, he brings extensive know-how. He has been Head of Sales & Marketing at DMC since 2015, during which time he has successfully implemented the new sales and marketing strategy, launched the marketing of new product lines such as Profital and Livesystems, and significantly driven the development and expansion of digital offerings.

The result is a modern stamp that plays with the colors and light of Graubünden and symbolizes nature, people, culture and progress in the canton. "We wanted to show the innovative mountain canton that is as aware of its roots as it is of its wings," Häusermann explains. "The three cantonal languages, the living culture, the diverse mountain valleys, the overwhelming nature and the urban progress found their place on the stamp," he knows and adds seriously: "To represent the entire magnificence of Graubünden, the stamp would have to have at least the dimension of a football field!"

The new canton stamp almost reached this dimension at its launch in Federal Bern. In an elaborate light show, the individual stamps were projected onto the facade of the Federal Palace and the Hü7 stamp was lavishly brought to life. Thus, the Grisons eagle circled the government building in front of an astonished audience and the mountain sun rose over Federal Berne. The "My Canton - Our Switzerland" stamp sheet is available in stores now.

Vaudeville Studios prevailed over the other competitors in a competition with an innovative panorama design. A brand is presented that has never existed before: Original Gotthard rock was printed on for the production. From 12 May 2016, the special stamps will also be available at all larger post offices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxoBGU8hO0o

Eleven of the participating professional associations are also taking on a very special challenge: In numerous projects with young creatives, the associations have used their "skills" to design a stamp.

Only one of the 11 subjects will be published as a special stamp in September 2014. The public has a say and can vote online for their personal favorites until February 15, 2014. A jury will select the winning design from the three stamp designs with the most votes on February 27, 2014. Information about the stamp competition can be found at here.

Responsible at Post: Yvonne Wehrli (Head of Marketing Communications), Bettina Hufschmied (Marketing Communications Consultant), Isabel Lo Verso Pedersen (Product Manager Stamps and Philately). Responsible at Renzen: Achim Kaufmann (AD), Frédéric Renzen, Alain Götschi (consulting).

For this reason, Swiss Post has decided not to launch the product on the market, according to a statement on Friday. The next step will be to analyze the test results and consider how to proceed. Current subscribers will continue to receive their individual newspapers until the end of December 2012.

The idea behind the My Newspaper pilot was to combine the electronic with the physical information channel. Subscribers to My Newspaper put together their own individual newspaper on the Internet. They were able to select content from various newspapers that was tailored to their interests - for example, the sports section from newspaper A, the politics section from newspaper B and the local section from newspaper C. The newspaper was then printed out for them by Swiss Post. Swiss Post then delivered the printed version of the newspaper to their home with the day's delivery or to their mailbox early in the morning. Alternatively, people around the world could subscribe to My Newspaper in electronic form as an e-paper. Various publishers had participated in "MyNewspaper" by making the content of their newspaper titles available.

However, the Swiss Media Association is not prepared to accept the surcharge. The current deficit in newspaper delivery amounts to CHF 101 million per year, said Swiss Post spokesman Oliver Flüeler in response to a report by Sonntagsblick. The 6 centimes higher rate would reduce the deficit to CHF 50 million in 2015. Out of consideration for the publishers, Swiss Post wants to stagger the increase. In the last five years, Swiss Post has only passed on the cost of subsidized newspaper transport to the media companies and, despite the accumulating deficit, has refrained from planned price increases out of consideration for the publishers, said Flüeler.
 
The Swiss Media Association will not accept the increase without further ado, as President Hanspeter Lebrument told the news agency SDA on Sunday. A meeting with the top management of Swiss Post is planned for the beginning of October. According to Swiss Post, the additional costs will amount to around CHF 10 million per year, said Lebrument. Whether the publishers would bear these costs themselves or pass them on to newspaper subscribers would be up to them to decide. According to Lebrument, the newspaper publishers are angry about the unexpectedly announced price increase without prior consultation with the publishers.
 
Swiss Post spokesperson Flüeler said that the publishers had already been informed in August 2011 that the price system for newspaper transportation would have to be adjusted. Before announcing the details, Swiss Post wanted to wait for the new postal legislation, which will now come into force on October 1. (sda)