Swiss Railways is ending its long-standing train station parcel collection service for Swiss Post and DHL, leading Swiss Post to sign up more Migros stores as an alternative.
As of March 31, 2020, Swiss Post and DHL customers will no longer be able to pick up, dispatch and return parcels at railway stations, as customer demand for these services is decreasing.
The rail operator explained that more and more alternative points of sale and delivery are available for parcel customers. Furthermore, it can no longer effectively cover the costs of the service available at around 130 travel centres.
However, customers will have various alternatives available from April 2020. On the one hand, parcels can be picked up at different access points in the immediate vicinity of the train stations. Additionally, DHL parcels can be picked up or returned at various retailers and petrol stations.
According to Swiss Railways, the decision has no influence on further existing partnerships between the company and DHL and Swiss Post.
As a reaction, Swiss Post has decided to further extend its ongoing expansion of access points at Migros supermarkets. This year alone, the postal operator has opened around 400 new locations in Migros branches throughout Switzerland.
Since 2007, Swiss Post customers have been able to pick up and drop off their packages at so-called PickPost points. Compared to the 87 service points that existed in 2008, this network is planned to expand to 485 locations by the end of September 2019.
Furthermore, Migros and Swiss Post will expand their strategic partnership as well, by offering a total of 91 service points as of 21 October 2019.
Matthias Wälchli, Head of Collection and Delivery at Migros, welcomes the expanded partnership with Swiss Post. "Migros is looking forward to new customers coming to our branches,” he said.
