Swiss Post unveils prototype "integrated" post office

Swiss Post opens the first of a series of new-look post offices today, incorporating a modern new interior design and a wider range of services. The new Horgen 1 post office has had a CHF 4m facelift over the past eight months to become a so-called “integrated post office”.

It brings together a range of postal and financial services all under one roof, to become the first in the Swiss Post network to integrate consulting services from PostFinance.

The open-plan design includes six open counters for serving customers, a business customer counter, a separate PostFinance counter and a special touch-screen quick advice terminal dedicated to PostFinance products.

The Horgan 1 post office also provides four separate rooms for customers to have more extensive one-to-one financial consultations. Waiting areas have been provided with comfortable seating.

A range of brand name items can be purchased in from the post office shop, while the branch also boasts P.O. box facilities and a “Postomat” ATM.

Swiss Post said similar integrated post offices are set to open in the Martigny and Koniz municipalities in early 2012. The operator said the new concept reflected the fact that there was less call for letters, parcels and payment activities in post offices, but more interest in financial products from PostFinance.

If the new-style integrated post offices prove successful, Swiss Post will look into rolling out the concept to more post offices.

Developing

Swiss Post said it was constantly developing its network of post offices, using more partner-run postal counters in place of dedicated post offices to reflect changes in customer behaviour.

In Horgen, three post offices are being replaced by the new Horgen 1 facility, with the Horgen 2 post office in Oberdorf set to close when the new branch re-opens. A postal counter will open at a branch of the grocery retailer Migrolino from mid-May at Oberdorf station, offering basic postal services and 24-hour opening.

The Horgen 3 post office will be replaced by a postal facility at the Waldegg Center from October 24.

Swiss Post has more than 3,608 customer access points in Switzerland, in a network it describes as one of the most dense in the world. The network includes 1,873 of its own post offices and 411 facilities run by partners.