Swiss Post hits service quality targets for mail and parcels
Swiss Post surpassed its targets for delivering mail and parcels on time in 2011, according to its latest figures out today. The national postal operator in Switzerland met its 97% on-time delivery target during the year with a 97.5% on-time rate for its next-day A mail letter service and a record 99.3% rate for its three-day B mail service.
The company said its overnight PostPac Priority parcel service achieved a 97.4% on-time rate, while 97.7% of PostPac Economy parcels were delivered on time, within two working days.
Swiss Post said that as well as meeting the requirements for its universal service obligation set by the Swiss Confederation, its performances also put it in “amongst the top performers” on the international postal stage.
The delivery data was assembled by the independent market research institute GfK Switzerland AG using a scientific sampling method, Swiss Post said.
Last year saw the Post processing 2.3bn addressed letters, with service quality improving for A mail compared to 2010, when a 97.2% on-time rate was achieved, and also for B mail, improving from a 98.5% rate in 2010.
Letter mail on-time rates have remained fairly constant for Swiss Post since 2004, dipping below 97% for A mail only in 2008, and for B mail in 2007 and 2008.
Swiss Post said it was improving its reliability for physical mail services by investing in state-of-the-art technology and in staff training.
“The values achieved with letter mail exceed the requirements of the Confederation, which stands at 97% of mailings delivered on time,” said Swiss Post in a statement. “Swiss Post also ranks amongst the top performers by international comparison when it comes to delivery time.”
For its parcels services, Swiss Post was actually slightly down on the 2010 on-time rate for its PostPac Priority service, dropping from a 97.7% on-time rate the previous year to 98.4% in 2011. PostPac Economy on-time rates edged up slightly from 97.5% in 2010 to 97.7%.
The company said it was essentially matching its already high service quality levels, and since the beginning of this year has been looking to improve its parcel collection arrangements by doubling the size of its “PickPost” pick-up network by adding an additional 350 post offices.
Swiss Post on-time rates for parcels have generally been between 97% and 98% since 2004, with the Priority service dipping below 97% only in 2004, while the Economy service remained above 97% each year, with a high of 98.7% in 2008.
