For the second year in a row, Switzerland’s postal service came first in the Integrated Index for Postal Development.
© Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com
Produced by the Universal Postal Union, a UN agency, the Index covers 173 countries and measures four things: reliability, reach, relevance and resilience.
Global postal networks, employing 5.32 million people around the world, are seen as a vital part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals because of their critical socio-economic role, which continues to increase with digitization and the growth in e-commerce.
Scoring is relative and ranges from 100 (Switzerland) to zero (Tuvalu). The global average in 2018 was 37.2.
The Netherlands (93.7), Japan (91.6), Germany (91.3) and France (83.3) were next in the ranking. The lowest score in Europe was Portugal (40.9).
The survey does not include a price comparison, however, in 2017, Deutsche Post did one covering Europe. The most expensive place to send a standard letter was Denmark (3.63 euros), followed by Italy (2.80) and Norway (1.46). Switzerland (0.92) was only the seventh most costly.
When prices were adjusted for earning power, Switzerland came out the cheapest.
The report only covers letters sent within a country. Parcel rates, especially cross-border rates, are quite different.
The biggest postal headache for many in Switzerland is customs. It slows down arrival times, and the additional processing fee can send costs through the roof when the value of a package exceed the tax free limit.
More on this:
Universal Postal Union report (in English)
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