Swiss Post says that during the Black Friday week from November 23 up to and including December 1, its sorted 7.3 million parcels across its different centers, a 24% increase on 2019. On average, its mail carriers delivered more than 900,000 parcels every day, and in the days immediately after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this figure was over one million.
“We’re very proud of our employees and their exceptional performance,” emphasized Stefan Luginbühl, head of parcels national/international. According to the post, its sorting machines were running for 22 hours a day and staff worked in special shifts, including on Saturdays. “We managed to avoid any breakdowns and technical problems,” noted Luginbühl.
Unlike during the lockdown period in the spring, Swiss Post was able to prepare for the high parcel volumes, plan accordingly and take a number of measures to cope with the record volumes. One such measure was the processing of smaller parcels in the letter centers – totaling up to 150,000 items a day. This meant parcel post and letter post were working hand in hand, with mail carriers delivering parcels as well as letters. “That really helps us and eases our workload considerably,” stated Ruedi Henke, head of distribution and transport.
The post said that its regional parcel centers in Vétroz and Untervaz, newly opened in September and November respectively, passed their first endurance with flying colors and eased the burden on its large parcel centers in Daillens, Härkingen, Frauenfeld and Urdorf.
However, the post is planning further expansion, and by 2030 it hopes to open other parcel centers – likely to be situated around the major conurbations such as Basel, Bern and Zurich.