Early postal services

Before the establishment of a united postal service in Switzerland in 1848,^[8] postal services were often carried out by a variety of independent messengers and postal services^[9] such as the Thurn und Taxis in Schaffhausen and the Fischerpost in Bern.^[10]

In the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803)

After the French military complained to the government of the recently established Helvetic Republic about the different uniforms of the postal services, the decision to form a united postal service was approved by the Swiss Senate in September 1798.^[9] In 1799, Switzerland was divided into five postal zones centered in Basel, Zürich, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen and Bern^[10] but the Swiss Government was not able to nationalize the already functioning and well-established independent postal services.^[11] By 1803 the administration of the Swiss postal services was returned to the cantons.^[12]

Under cantonal administration (1803–1848)

Between 1803 and 1848 the postal services were administrated by the cantons.^[13]

The canton of Zürich was a major provider of postal services at the time, as it also operated the postal services in the cantons Thurgau and Zug^[14] and its carriages were allowed to transit through the important Uri^[14] with its Gotthard Pass. From 1823 onwards, the postal services from Canton Zürich operated a carriage between Zürich via Rapperswil to Chur^[15] and from 1826 the carriage was in service on a daily basis.^[15] in 1829 a daily service between Basel and Zürich was established.^[15] In 1835 the service was expanded to Bern and three years later the line reached Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva.^[15] In 1835 the first steamboat was operated on Lake Zürich and in 1847 the first railway of Switzerland went into service between Zürich and Baden.^[15] In 1843, the cantonal post of Zürich issued the first stamp in Switzerland^[16] so the postman was relieved of the duty of collecting the money from the clients.^[17]

In Canton Bern the Fischerpost was the official provider of postal services, and it also operated the line over the Gotthard Pass to Italy.^[18] They were the official post service in the cantons of Solothurn, Fribourg and Geneva.^[18] Their position was rather dominant, much more so after Emanuel Friedrich von Fischer of the Fischer family was elected the president of the Bernese Republic.^[19] The Fischer dynasty ended in 1832, as the new Bernese liberal Government expropriated them.^[20]

Lucerne was the only canton which wanted to keep the post under a national administration,^[21] and had to withstand the Fischer family who attempted to obtain the postal rights from the canton in 1809 and again in 1814.^[22] Lucerne expanded its own service to the south in the Ticino, and its messengers were given transit rights through the cantons of Schwyz and Uri.^[23] From Lucerne carriages departed to St. Gallen, Olten and Basel.^[24] In 1839 the first steamboat on Lake Lucerne began to provide its services.^[24]

Uri leased transit rights to the postal services of Zürich.^[24] The condition was that the employees had to be from Uri.^[24] In 1828 Uri gave the right of transit to the postal services of Lucerne.^[25] From Altdorf in Uri, a daily carriage crossed over the Gotthard, reaching Milan in Italy.^[26]

The small Canton Glarus outsourced its postal services to two entrepreneurs until 1832, the year it began to operate the post through a cantonal administration.^[27]

The location of Basel at the northern border of Switzerland made the city a prominent centre for international mail exchange.^[28] In 1839 Basel ordered that post boxes accessible to the public be installed in the major squares of the city.^[29] After the train line between Basel and Strasbourg was inaugurated in 1844, it also transported mail between the cities.^[29]

Mail volume

In 1850 the post was responsible for dispatching 16 million letters in total or 7 letters per person.^[16] By 1910 it delivered fifteen and in 1950 eighty-two letters per person.^[16] In 1870, the urban centres were responsible for about 25% of the letters sent while accounting for only 9% of the population.^[16] In 1950 the post delivered 900 million letters, of which about 8% had a destination outside of Switzerland.^[41] In 1963 the mail volume rose to 2.5 billion letters.^[40] In 2020, Swiss Post handled between 600,000 and 900,000 parcels each day.^[42]

Real estate

The number of post offices increased from 1,502 in 1849 to over 4,000 in 1914.^[43] The volumes of mail delivered by the Swiss Postal Services increased significantly and between 1887 and 1915 so-called "Postal Palaces" were built in several larger cities.^[44] The first one was in Basel, then others followed in Zürich, Bern, Geneva and Olten.^[45] By 1985 the Swiss Post owned about 1300 buildings and rented more than 4100.^[46]

Carriages and sleds

In 1849, the Swiss Post operated almost 500 carriages and 250 sleds.^[47] In 1849, the Swiss Post operated almost 500 carriages and 250 sleds pulled by horses.^[47] By 1913, the post used over 2,000 carriages and 1,000 sleds in its services.^[48]

Transportation of passengers

After its foundation, the post earned almost half its revenue from the transportation of passengers.^[47] In 1849, the Swiss Post operated almost 500 carriages and 250 sleds, which were also operating the popular express lines in the night.^[47] After the 1860s, the transportation of passengers was taken over increasingly by railway lines established along the same route as the most profitable carriages.^[47]

Railways

Postal wagons at the postal sorting facility in Sion, Switzerland. Mail between regional cities is transported by rail, to be delivered by postal bus, vans and cycles at a local level.

After 1844 the post delivered mail between Basel and Strasbourg in France and after 1847 also between Zürich and Baden.^[49] In 1857 post wagons owned by the Swiss Railways entered into service.^[49][50] In the post wagons the mail was sorted on train.^[41] By 1866 the Swiss Post decided to buy their own post wagons.^[49][41] In later years wagons with three and four axles were purchased.^[49][41] The wagons with 4 axles were equipped with compartments in which the mail was sorted^[49] and by 1965, over sixty postal train lines had come into service.^[39] In 1964, the Postal Codes were established and from then the mail was sorted more in specific centres.^[39] In 1986, there were 600 post wagons in the service of the Swiss Post.^[49]

Air mail

The first air mail was delivered mainly as a demonstration in the early 1910s.^[51] In January 1919, a regular military airmail service was established which by April 1919 was expanded also for civilian mail.^[51] But the service was not profitable enough and was discontinued in October the same year.^[51]

Despite the initial difficulties, air mail became a success and the Swiss Post soon expanded the service first to Germany, then to Europe, while still depending on the services of foreign airlines.^[51] Before the 1930s Swiss air mail reached Africa and Asia and by the 1930s seaplanes flying from the Atlantic ocean landed in South and North America.^[51] From 1931 onwards, the newly founded Swissair facilitated the creation of a dense European network for airmail deliveries.^[51]

During World War II, the services diminished until halted in 1944.^[51] The Swiss Post maintained a mail exchange with London and New York with seaplanes in the Atlantic on the Portuguese coast.^[51]

In 1946 the American Trans World Airlines opened a route to Geneva and the Swiss Post had its first direct connection to the American continent.^[52] Subsequently, at other Swiss airports like Zurich or Basel, international airmail was also received and dispatched.^[52] By 1985, the Swiss Post used the services of many international airlines in addition to those of Swissair.^[52]

Peculiarities

Until the 1850s about 25% of the post offices were in taverns, but this was soon forbidden by the Swiss Post as the vicinity of wine and post offices led to problems.^[43] In the 1950s a St. Bernhard dog pulled the mail carriage in Adelboden.^[38]