BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Post 9 May put its new spring stamps on the market. This year’s batch of philately delights includes two William Tell stamps, for fans of Swiss history. The fabled apple-shooter has been commemorated in stamps for more than 100 years, with the first in 2007, by Swiss artist Albert Welti. This year the stamps commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Tell plays in Altdorf and the 100th anniversary of the Tell outdoor theatre in Interlaken.
Other new special issue stamps, all with a face value of CHF1.00 are:
- Zurich comedian Ursus Wehrli “tidies up” a stamp for Swiss Post
- Bernese cartoonist Max Spring designs a “visits” theme stamp, a theme picked up in 2012 by other European post offices
- a tribute to Swiss Red Cross blood donation service for its untiring efforts to obtain blood for hospitals
- the Stanserhorn: the only two-storey aerial railway in the world with an open top deck
In addition, says Swiss Post, “The new Pro Patria surcharge stamps are making a big thing out of small buildings. Since 1996, the foundation has been committed to the preservation and restoration of small buildings in Switzerland. Wherever there are buildings, there are measurements. For 100 years the “Cadastral Surveying” has been keeping a check on plots of land, buildings, courses of water and forest boundaries. As of 9 May 2012, it will be leaving its mark on a special stamp for the first time ever.”
The stamps are available from any post office or from Swiss Post’s online shop.
Forget the Christmas licking – self-adhesive holiday stamps are here
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Stamp collectors and those who still send Christmas cards (and this is not a dying breed, according to the post office) have a treat in store Thursday 24 November, with the new Swiss Post philately collection going on sale.
Eight stamps are featured this year and for the first time they will be self-adhesive.
Three holiday stamps designed by Raphael Volery from Zurich also have matching gift card sets or the stamps can be purchased alone: “chapel” for CHF0.85, “Christmas tree” for CHF1.00 and “chalet” for CHF1.40.
They are collectors’ items, but can be used for Swiss internal and international post.
Four new Pro Juventute stamps have a surcharge, with the added cost going to support the organization’s projects in its centenary year of 2012.
Two have a face value of CHF0.85 (+0.40) and two have a face value of CHF1.00 (+0.50). Children’s faces draw attention to four important moral and ethical core values, Swiss Post notes: “Trust”, “Confidence”, “Security” and “Friendship”.
An additional stamp designed by Estonian-born rapper Stress (real name Andres Andrekson) shows his perception of Switzerland’s multicultural society. The colourful stamps have a face value of CHF1.00.
The stamps are available starting Thursday at the online philately shop as well as at Swiss philatelic salespoints and post offices.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Post is reminding citizens who vote by mail, 90 percent of them for federal elections, to mail in their ballots on time. Voters can use fast mail (A) up until Thursday 21 October and slower mail (B) until 18 October, observing collection times on mail collection boxes.
Swiss voters elect a new parliament 23 October, a political event that occurs every four years.
Ongoing battle over press postal subsidy continues
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The upper house of the Swiss parliament’s transport and telecommunications commission has agreed to back motions by the lower house that will slow down the deregulation of the Swiss postal system. The two houses have agreed that the ruling Federal Council should provide an interim report showing the impact of the first two years of deregulation before further measures to open the market are adopted.
The upper house commission also agreed to go along with a lower house motion to increase by CHF20 million a subsidy to the post office for the rebates it offers the press.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Peter Hasler has been named to head Swiss Post, the national postal service, effective immediately. He replaces Claude Béglé, who stepped down from the job abruptly Monday evening 19 January. Several members of the board had resigned under Béglé’s leadership, citing differences over strategy. Hasler headed the Union Suisse Patronale, the powerful employers’ association, from 1993-2006.
Béglé argued Swiss Post International and Finance were key new revenue streams
Update 23:10 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Claude Béglé , chairman of the board of Swiss Post, the Swiss postal system, has resigned following several weeks of political turbulence. He handed in his resignation to the Swiss Federal Council late Tuesday 19 January, effective immediately. Béglé has been under attack from several quarters for his plans to modernize the postal system, especially its expansion abroad, but most recently the attacks have become more personal.
He became chairman of the board in June 2008.
Béglé’s departure brings to four the number of board members to leave in under two months.
The Swiss postal service, La Poste, bissued the Basel Carnival commemorative stamp 5 January 2009. You can order them online, in English. Great for collectors, or even as easy gifts for non-philatelists: these are particularly charming stamps. Background story on GenevaLunch
Basel Carnival collector's postage stamps
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss postal service will start selling its newest commemorative stamps, for the famed Basel Carnival (Fasnacht), 5 January to collectors and 12 January in post offices. The one-franc (regular letter price) stamps may be used starting 12 January.
The three stamps commemorate the centennary of the organizing committee that is at the heart of the three-day pre-Lenten festival, but La Poste points out that Basel’s Carnival itself dates back to the 14th century. The stamps show typical costumes and the heart of the party, the city’s Spalentor, town hall and the cathedral. Basel artist Andreas Daniel Vetsch created them.
The festival in 2010 takes place from 22-24 February.
Links to other sites: Basel Carnival (Ger), Basel tourism office, Swiss post office philately page (Ed. note: the new stamps are not yet listed on the English pages)
Not the right kind of mailbox for cheques
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Envelopes containing payment orders or checks are being stolen by fraudsters, and the Vaud cantonal police have issued a warning for people not to post such envelopes in outdoors mailboxes but to leave them in the mailboxes inside post offices.
Letters containing checks are stolen, and the name on the check is changed in favour of one of the members of the gang, then deposited. In another variation, payment orders may have the beneficiaries’ details changed, also in favour of the gang.
Vaud police add that they have received complaints of fraud involving several hundreds of thousands of francs in recent weeks.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Quickmail SA, based in St Gallen and specialized in mail order deliveries, has been given a license to deliver letters and packages of 50 grams or larger. It is the fourth company to be awarded a license since the privatization process for La Poste began to allow private deliveries for mail under 100 grams, in July 2009. Switzerland now has 24 private companies making deliveries, but most have licenses only for larger deliveries.
Profits went thataway
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Post office profits were down 16 percent to CHF358 million in the first six months of the year, the company said. The post office’s traditional business has suffered most. An increase in personnel costs because of salary increases and a higher headcount contributed to the drop in profits. The post office delivered 4.8 percent fewer letters in the period than last year, the result of the economic crisis and competition from electronic alternatives. The average annual rate of decrease of letters delivered had been 1.5 percent. Both PostFinance, the company’s bank, and CarPostal, the familiar yellow buses, posted profits. Post office rates came down starting 1 July, and the company does not foresee a very rosy second half of the year.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss postal system, La Poste, had first quarter 2009 profits of CHF198 million, down CHF30m or 13 percent from the same period in 2008. The group faces greater competition in July 2009 and falling revenues from letters, down 3.1 percent in the first three months of the year. It says it expects earning for 2009 to be down sharply from 2008.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s consumer watchdog, popularly known as Mr Price, received 1,281 complaints in 2008, with the largest number about hikes in electricity and medicine costs. These were followed by complaints about customs duties, telecommunications rates, water and waste charges.
Photo: © La Poste, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The cost of shipping letters, registered letters and packages outside Switzerland will increase by 7% on 1 April 2009, when La Poste restructures its price schedule. The new prices must still be approved by Mr Price, the government’s consumer watchdog.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – La Poste, the Swiss postal service, will become a significant player in the newspaper and magazine distribution business, starting in June. The group has been running trials on selling publications in its larger post offices since 2005 and has now made the decision to sell them in 450 offices throughout the country. A first phase will put them on sale in German and Italian-language areas in June, with French-speaking Switzerland to follow at a later date, not yet divulged.
