Record parcel volumes at Swiss Post on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Swiss Post delivered 7.3 million parcels in the week around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This is almost a quarter more than in 2019 and a new record, the company announced on Friday.
It covers the period from November 23 to December 1. On average, postmen and women delivered more than 900,000 parcels per day, and in the days immediately after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the figure was even over one million.
The sorting machines in the parcel centers were running 22 hours a day, according to the press release. The staff worked extra shifts and even on Saturdays so that everything could be sorted on time. And this will continue for the next few weeks.
The regional parcel centers in Vétroz and Untervaz, which opened in September and November, have successfully passed their first endurance test. They were able to relieve the large parcel centers in Daillens, Härkingen, Frauenfeld and Urdorf as hoped - together with the regional parcel centers in Cadanezzo and Ostermundigen, which were opened in 2019 and March 2020 respectively. In total, the regional centers would process around 190,000 parcels a day.
Annual record expected on December 15
"After Black Friday is before Christmas," writes Swiss Post. Parcel volumes will remain high and continue to increase on a daily basis. On Tuesday, December 15, Swiss Post is expecting the largest volume of the year.
The further forecasts: a slight decline in volumes in the week at the end of the year and a renewed increase in January, then the curve will flatten out again slightly until it rises sharply again at Easter. One thing already seems clear: "Parcel volumes will not return to pre-coronavirus levels," says parcel boss Stefan Luginbühl.
Online retail will continue to grow steadily - and with it the volume of parcels. At the same time, customers want to receive their goods faster and faster. In order for Swiss Post to be able to reliably process the mountains of parcels in the future, it will have to increase its capacity once again.
Swiss Post plans to put further regional parcel centers into operation by 2030, probably in the vicinity of large conurbations such as Basel, Bern and Zurich. The company will communicate about this "in due course". (SDA)
