Swiss Post ‘bribes’ junk mail haters with free muesli

Nobody likes junk mail – except the Swiss post office.

As well as delivering people’s letters and packages, Swiss Post is a service provider for the advertising industry, and almost half the post delivered to homes by Swiss Post is unsolicited promotional material, according to the Aargauer Zeitung.

But that side of its business is suffering due to the number of ‘no junk mail’ stickers placed on mailboxes.

In an attempt to get householders to accept advertising material, the post office has gone on the offensive with a new campaign, according to the paper.

Some 300,000 households have recently received a letter from Swiss Post offering them a monthly free gift – such as a sample packet of muesli or stock cubes – over the next three months, in exchange for removing their ‘no junk mail’ sticker.

They have even provided a helpful ‘advertising ok’ label for the customer’s mailbox.

Speaking to the paper, Swiss Post spokesman Oliver Flüeler said if the household wants to repost its ‘no junk mail’ sticker at a later date, that’s ok.

“We’re not forcing anyone. Everyone has the freedom to choose whether they want to keep their ‘advertising ok’ sticker or not,” he said.

It’s not the first time that the post office has launched such a campaign.

In 2015 some 40,000 households received a similar letter, which incurred criticism from the Swiss Consumer Protection Foundation (SKS), said the Aargauer Zeitung.

The SKS then launched its own initiative calling for people to send in the post office’s ‘advertising ok’ sticker and receive a ‘no junk mail’ one instead.

“We mustn’t forget that the post office not only has customers on the receiving end. We are also a service provider for the advertising and products industry,” said Flüeler.

Contacted by The Local, Swiss Post was unavailable to comment on the campaign.