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POSTAL SERVICE

11 things you can do at a Swiss post office other than buy stamps

Most people use Switzerland’s postal service to mail or receive letters and packages. But did you know it offers other services as well?

Published: 7 March 2024 15:03 CET
Updated: 11 March 2024 16:29 CET
11 things you can do at a Swiss post office other than buy stamps
A sign of PostFinance, the financial services unit of Swiss Post, is seen next to a sign of Swiss Post in Geneva. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

Called Die Post in German, La Poste in French, and La Posta in Italian, Swiss Post is government-owned.

But that doesn’t prevent it from operating like any other business enterprise, by offering a variety of products and services besides the ones relating to handling mail.

Obviously, smaller post offices will offer fewer services than main or large branches which have…branched out into diverse commercial areas.

First, however, let’s look at its primary, post-related tasks:

Handling mail

This means, of course, that postal employees will sort, and then ship or deliver, tens of thousands of pieces of mail each day.

In fact, according to Universal Postal Union report, which rates postal services of 172 countries, Switzerland is in the number 1 spot in terms of reliability. 

You can also purchase all the mail-relevant material at the post office: stamps, envelopes, cardboard boxes, labels, and bubble wrap.

What about non-post related products and services?

Buy your motorway sticker

If you drive on Switzerland’s motorways, then you need a vignette to attach to your car’s windshield each year.

The Post Office is one of the places where you can purchase it, aside from other  venues like petrol stations and border crossings.

Pay bills

If you don’t like (or trust) e-banking services or apps, you can pay your bills at any postal branch.

In fact, you can still see people (though mostly older ones) paying their monthly invoices at the post office counter with cash, sometimes even with the 1000-franc banknotes.

Get money

As Swiss Post operates its own bank (read more about this below), you can use its ATMs to withdraw money — provided you have an account at this financial  institution, of course.

Verify your identity

Swiss Post offers this useful service as well:  SwissID, a free online identification via the SwissID App.

Once your identity is verified through documents you must submit electronically, you can then legally sign documents and contracts electronically.

You will also have access to various online portals that require proof of identity.

Shop

Post offices also have boutiques (physical or online), where you can buy anything from stationary and collectors’ stamps, to mobile phones, batteries, toys, books, and many other items as well.

Set up promotional space

If you want to advertise or even sell your products, you can rent space not only for your stand or display at postal branches, but also flyer dispensers and digital screens. 

Meet clients

If you need to meet with clients but don’t know where, you can rent space for this purpose at a post office, where facilities such as consultation booths and other meeting areas are available.

True : the post office is not necessarily the first venue that will jump to mind for a business meeting but, why not?

The Swiss Post also offers two additional services:

Bank

PostFinance is the financial arm of the Swiss Post.

Unlike other banks in Switzerland, which are either privately owned or owned by cantons, the PostFinance belongs to the federal government, just as the Swiss Post does.

Transport

And then there is a true Swiss icon: the Post Bus —  2,400 vehicles covering a network of 936 lines that span almost 17,000 kilometres of country roads, no matter how narrow and winding.

Unlike ‘regular’ public buses, postal buses have two unique features: they are bright yellow and have a distinctive three-tone horn.

READ ALSO : Why PostBuses are true Swiss icons

Member comments

  1. Does anyone know if Swiss Post provides foreign currency exchange and, if so, whether their rates are more reasonable than commercial exchange offices and traditional banks?

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For members

LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

REVEALED: How Switzerland’s native-English speakers are growing in number

Some Swiss cities have higher concentrations of foreign residents than others. A new study reveals where most of them live and interestingly how more and more of them are native English-speakers.

Published: 23 April 2024 15:21 CEST
REVEALED: How Switzerland's native-English speakers are growing in number

Foreigners who move to Switzerland like to settle in the cities.

This is what emerges from a new study published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, the municipality with the highest number of foreign residents is not Zurich or Geneva, but Kreuzlingen in canton Thurgau, where 56.3 percent of the population are foreigners.

Next is Rorschach in St. Gallen, where just over half (50.6 percent) of residents are foreign.

In terms of regions, however, more towns in the French-speaking part of the country have a high proportion of non-Swiss.

In the first place is the Lausanne suburb of Renens, where 49.3 percent of inhabitants are foreign.

It is followed by Geneva (49.2 percent) and its districts Meyrin (45.4 percent) and Vernier (44.8 percent). Next are Vaud municipalities of Montreux (44.2 percent) and Yverdon (37.7 percent).

The study doesn’t indicate why exactly so many immigrants move to these particular towns, but generally new arrivals tend to settle in or near places where they work.

Another interesting finding: English language is gaining ground

“If we consider non-national languages, it is striking to see that English has developed significantly,” FSO reports.

“It is today the main language of 8.1 percent of the resident population.”

This has also been shown in another FSO study in March, which indicated that  English is not only the most prevalent foreign language in Switzerland, but in some regions even ‘outperforms’ national languages.

In French-speaking Geneva, for instance, 11.8 percent of the population speak English — more than 5.7 percent who speak Italian. And in the neighbouring Vaud, 9.1 percent of residents speak English, versus 4.9 percent for both German and Italian.

In Basel-City, where the main language is German, 12.5 percent speak English, 6.1 percent Italian, and 5 percent French.

And in Zurich,10.8 percent speak English, versus only 5.8 percent for Italian and 3.2 percent French.

The ‘ winner’ however, is the German-speaking Zug, where 14.1 percent of the population over the age of 15 has English as their primary language. 

READ ALSO : Where in Switzerland is English most widely used? 

What else does the study reveal?

It shows to what extent Switzerland’s population ‘migrated’ from rural areas to cities over the past century.

While only a third of the country’s residents lived in urban regions 100 years ago, the 170 Swiss cities and their agglomerations are now home to three-quarters of the population.

As a result of this evolution, “new cities sprang up, many political and spatial boundaries were moved, and the country became increasingly urban.”

With a population of 427,000, Zurich is still the most populated city, followed by Geneva (204,000) and Basel (174,000).

And there is more: Fewer people practice religion

The proportion of people who feel they belong to a traditional religion is generally falling, FSO found.

This downward trend concerns all religions, but it is strongest among people of the Reformed Evangelical faith.

In six towns in particular — Bussigny, Crissier, and Ecublens (VD), Kloten, and Opfikon (ZH), as well as Oftringen (AR) — the drop was of more than 70 percent.
 
 READ ALSO: Why so many Swiss are quitting the church and taking their money with them

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