Access points

Post offices in transition: creating added value for customers

New access points, services, opening hours and a reorientation of Customer Service: in 2015, Swiss Post launched a range of pilot projects with the goal of getting closer to customers.

Swiss Post is exploring new avenues with its access points, and taking its bearings from the requirements and behaviour of its customers. Four pilot projects were reviewed in terms of their practical feasibility over the course of 2015.

New partner model

A new partner model complements the network of access points with simple and customer-friendly services. Here, customers can drop off or collect letters and parcels, and also buy a small selection of prepaid products. The pilot phase started in June 2015 in Winterthur, Zurich and Berne. “With the new partner model, we're moving even closer to our customers and creating added value for them,” says Franz Huber, Head of Post Offices & Sales, “particularly at good strategic locations for pedestrians, commuters and through traffic.”

New home services

Post letters and parcels from home? Buy some stamps or packaging at your front door? Swiss Post is testing whether these home services meet customer requirements at 41,575 households in the canton of Aargau, the Bernese Oberland and districts of the city of Basel. The home delivery service makes it possible for customers to obtain franking and packaging products for sending domestic letters and parcels from mail carriers. Additionally, they can give pre-franked parcels and letters for sending to the mail carrier via their private letter box.

Distinction between sales and advisory transactions

Most Swiss Post customers going to the post office want to post a letter or parcel or make an inpayment. Others are looking for advice: for example when taking out a phone subscription or opening a PostFinance account. Swiss Post wants to serve its customers more efficiently and according to their actual needs. It therefore drew a new distinction in a pilot project between sales transactions, which can be handled quickly, and more time-intensive advisory transactions. The concept has been on trial in some 70 post offices since July 2015. To ensure the realignment is well received by customers, Swiss Post is also testing a modified design for customer areas and a change in the way customers are guided.

More flexible opening hours

What opening hours do our customers want? Swiss Post started a trial in eight pilot regions with around 60 post offices: do the findings from customer surveys match customer requirements and behaviour in practice? The result: requirements vary widely, particularly between regions. For counter opening hours, Swiss Post will therefore in future take regional variations more consistently into account.