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There are said to be still 800: Swiss Post wants to stabilize the number of branches
Swiss Post’s earnings separate in the important mail business. The post office has now said how it plans to restructure the company. She wants to grow strongly in the online business.
Swiss Post is in higher demand than ever. In April alone, it processed 17 million packages, significantly more than last year before Christmas. But Swiss Post needs a new long-term strategy.
Swiss Post wants to further reduce its branch network. Image: KEYSTONE
Mail volume is constantly decreasing and the parcel business is marginal. On Thursday, Swiss Post directed its thoughts on how it plans to restructure the company.
The most important points:
- Swiss Post is outsourcing its losing branches to its own limited company.
- The new Postnetz AG will be opened to third parties. 800 post offices left.
- Parcels and letters are combined into one area.
- The renovation is scheduled to begin in 2021.
Urs Schwaller, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swiss Post. Image: KEYSTONE
In its strategy from 2021 to 2024, Swiss Post aims for specific growth in the areas of logistics and digital information. The growth serves to secure basic services, as Board of Directors chairman Urs Schwaller said Thursday in a video conference for the media.
Swiss Post is financing the planned investments of CHF 3 billion with its own funds. It uses reserves, current income and, depending on the sale of non-essential real estate, as Chief Financial Officer Alex Glanzmann said.
Roberto Cirillo, CEO of Swiss Post, during a press conference in August 2019 at Cadenazzo in Ticino. image: KEYSTONE / Ti-Press / Elia Bianch
The new strategy reacts to changes in the postal market in the past 20 years and to new customer needs. Mail volumes and counter business collapsed. The parcel market, on the other hand, is booming thanks to online commerce. In April, during the Corona crisis, Swiss Post transported more packages than ever.
Letters and packages together
Therefore, the new strategy focuses on core competencies, as postmaster Roberto Cirillo said: transportation of goods, information and people, as well as financial services. The funds for growth and basic services will be generated by logistics and communications services as specific growth sectors.
For this purpose, the previous postal mail (postal mail) and the subsequent logistics (packages) will be merged. Swiss Post plans to expand the international logistics of goods. In order to ensure the flow of goods, according to Cirillo, acquisitions are also planned in foreign countries near the border.
Post wants to allow partners in branches
Video: srf / SDA SRF
The combined business will comprise six units, Cirillo said. These are letters and packages in Germany with a focus on the last mile, international letters, advertising and media market, general freight and freight logistics, special industrial solutions and logistics services. Cirillo said that in the future the postman would bring packages again more frequently.
Swiss Post plays the trump card secret in digital communication. Previously physical correspondence should be seamlessly transferred to digital information transport while maintaining the highest level of confidentiality. In doing so, Swiss Post wants to expand its role as a provider in the healthcare system and in public relations.
End of the clearing
The autonomous branch network opens the position by subcontracting it to a separate company for companies and authorities. According to Schwaller, chairman of the Board of Directors, it will not be privatized. At the end of March the post had 962 branches. In 2019, the deficit of the postal network was CHF 132 million.
With the new strategy, compensation at branches ends, Schwaller said. The number of branches operated by Swiss Post will stabilize at 800. At the end of March the post had 962 branches. This brought a deficit of CHF 132 million.
The participation of third parties in post offices is intended to allow them to have physical contact with their customers. The areas are also better used, Schwaller noted. This should not change the deficit of the post offices. If its losses stabilize at around CHF 100 million, that is manageable, he said.
Post-financing must make loans
The remaining parts of Swiss Post are not affected by the new strategy. Postauto should continue to be the leader in public passenger transport on the road, and Post Solutions will continue to develop internationally.
Postfinance bank subsidiary then presents its strategy. According to Schwaller and Cirillo, the Federal Council and Parliament must now clarify whether Postfinance can make loans and mortgage loans. This discussion is important because Postfinance, as a systemically important bank, has to meet capital requirements. Schwaller declined to say how Swiss Post will react if the loan ban persists. (sda)
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