Interview with CEO Pascal Grieder 

“Swiss Post is in a solid position, but we need to take action”

Swiss Post has closed the 2025 financial year with a solid result. CEO Pascal Grieder explains the reasons, discusses the pressure to take action and how Swiss Post is strengthening its core business, growing in a focused manner and becoming simpler and faster in its internal units to remain relevant in the future.

Pascal, over the past few months, you’ve gained a comprehensive insight into Swiss Post, visiting our different locations and lending a hand. How’s Swiss Post doing?

Yes, I’ve been out and about a lot, met lots of teams, learned a lot and gathered exciting impressions. You can sense everywhere how relevant Swiss Post is to Switzerland – and also how dynamically its environment is changing. In one sentence: Swiss Post is in a solid position, but we need to take action.

The 2025 business result has now been published. How would you sum up the year?

Looking at the financial result, I have to be honest: year-on-year, operating revenue has fallen by around 300 million francs and Group profit by 20 million francs. That doesn’t match Swiss Post’s ambition to be world champion. However, we generated operating profit of 332 million francs. By international standards, that’s a very solid result, and one that we should be proud of.

You’re talking about a solid result: where did Swiss Post make a particularly strong impression in 2025?

I’m very satisfied with the result at PostFinance, which provided the Group with strong financial support last year. We also launched a large number of innovations that show the direction we’re taking. For example, we opened Switzerland’s most modern logistics center in Villmergen. And our new on-demand service AmiGo is one of the first autonomous mobility services in Switzerland, making us the innovative trailblazer in this field. That’s something to be proud of. We’re also making great strides in the digital sphere. I’m a heavy user of the new Post-App, which has taken a major leap forward, and we are continually optimizing our digital post services. The new Sihlpost in the heart of Zurich shows how we are further developing our branch concept. These are important steps in the right direction, and they show that we’re making life a little bit better for the Swiss public every day. That’s something people notice and appreciate – and something that makes me proud.

We make life a little bit better for the Swiss public every day.

Pascal GriederCEO

Despite these successes, you still talk about pressure to take action. Where does this come from?

In short, the letter business is declining. Every year, we lose around 85 million francs of revenue in the letter and newspaper business. However, we still have to cover our delivery rounds in full, regardless of whether the mail carrier is delivering one letter or five. This means our costs remain virtually the same, but are spread over fewer consignments. The letter business is a bulk business, and when the bulk disappears, unit costs come under pressure. We can offset this several times over, but it’s becoming increasingly challenging. That’s where the need to take action comes from.

How is Swiss Post tackling this challenge?

We’re refining our strategy and setting three clear priorities. Firstly, we’re strengthening our core business − for example, we’re improving parcel profitability, expanding PostFinance’s business in retirement planning, savings and investments, making PostBus more competitive and leveraging the potential of our branches more effectively. Secondly, we’re growing in a focused manner by concentrating on organic growth across our core business, such as at Swiss Post Cargo and in digital post. Most notably, digital post now includes digital letters, which have been part of the universal service since last year and are a key element in ensuring that the public service is also provided in the digital world. And thirdly, we’re simplifying and speeding up internal units by streamlining processes, using AI in our everyday work and focusing on the essentials. These three levers require bold decisions – always with the aim of delivering top-quality services for Switzerland.

What is Swiss Post’s aim in the refined strategy?

In recent years, we have laid a solid foundation with our strategy. We’re heading in the right direction and have done some very good work. And we have the right goal in mind: we want to impress our customers. We’re doing this by offering top quality, fair prices and simple products. We are also remaining innovative so that we can still be world champions in ten years’ time. This is how we’re ensuring that the universal service remains financially viable. We’re proud of that and are sticking to it – yesterday, today and tomorrow. Equally importantly, Swiss Post takes the needs of the public, the environment and its employees seriously. That’s part of our DNA, and we will keep it that way.