Christmas period solid says Swiss Post
Swiss Post staff processed more than 15m parcels during the Christmas period, the company has said. In the week leading up to Christmas, over a million parcels every day passed through the modern systems at the three sorting centres in Daillens (VD), Frauenfeld (TG) and Härkingen (SO).
This is around double the volume compared to a normal working day. Because most customers posted their Christmas parcels in good time and addressed them properly, they were delivered in time for Christmas Eve.
The pre-Christmas period was also the busiest time of year in the sorting centres: at peak times up to 20m cards and letters were processed each day. This, too, is equivalent to approximately twice the volume handled on an average working day.
People still like to send letters – and not just at Christmas. According to Swiss Post projections, the fall in the volume of addressed letters being processed annually is slowing. Whereas the volume of letters processed compared to the previous year fell by 4.7% in 2009, a year heavily affected by the economic crisis, the decline for 2010 is expected to be less than 2%.
Swiss Post also said it is supporting the “2 x Christmas” campaign again this year. Donated goods parcels may be handed in free of charge at any post office until 8 January 2011. Swiss Post will collect the parcels and forward them to the Swiss Red Cross, which distributes the gifts to needy families and individuals or welfare organisations.