“Then threaten the French states!”

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Post boss Roberto Cirillo (51) Blick received an interview at the head office of the yellow giant following the balance press conference.

Blick: Mr. Cirillo, are you really satisfied with the year’s result?
Roberto Cirillo: Yes, given the circumstances, on the one hand we have achieved a result of almost 300 million and on the other hand I am pleased that we now have much more liquid assets at our disposal. This strengthens Swiss Post for the challenges of the future.

But as a former McKinsey consultant you can’t really be happy with a result that is 157 million worse.
Yes, because the environment is crucial. First, the transition from negative interest rates to positive short-term interest rates has been a challenge for Postfinance. But the change is big for us in the coming years. Secondly, inflation caused costs to rise by about 40 million within a few months. And third, parcel volume collapsed midway through the year.

Wasn’t the latter to be expected after the Corona boom?
We expected a breather in the first quarter of 2022, but not this summer crisis. But most of all, things have continued to change from then until today. This makes planning difficult for us and our major clients.

Do you know the reason for the break-in?
We attribute poor consumer confidence to the war in Ukraine. Halfway through the year it became clear that it could lead to an energy shortage and that inflation was gaining momentum. Consumers have become more cautious.

To compensate for this, you now want to increase the shipping costs. When?
For both letters and parcels, we have requested postage price increases from the price supervisor. These could come into force in 2024 at the earliest. We are negotiating. I’m not anticipating this. We’ll have to see to what extent it gets more expensive. But we are not sitting still internally either.

What does that mean?
By the end of the year, we will have to save 100 million francs: by increasing the efficiency of the transport of letters, parcels and goods, by purchasing goods and services from third parties, by optimizing our administrative processes and by relieve. And of course we have to look at the personnel structure. But all that is not enough. We also need additional income from postage costs.

Just now! You want to save on personnel?
As a responsible employer, Swiss Post continuously monitors its workforce. We must now do the same. I can’t say more about that yet.

Then stop at the packages and letters. How much do we have to pay for it again?
Today, a family pays an average of less than five francs per month for postal services. This number will certainly not increase much. Business customers bear the most additional costs. But we need a raise so that we can fulfill our basic mandate. But exactly, here we have to come to an agreement with the price regulator.

And what happens if you don’t get through the postage increase?
Then our basic service is in jeopardy! Then a service interruption threatens. Then the French conditions threaten! There the post has cheap deliveries in the city and expensive ones in the countryside, because the effort is much greater. We want and must prevent that! As part of the basic service in Switzerland, postal services are available throughout Switzerland at the same prices. It should stay that way: we want to continue to deliver the parcels everywhere at the same price.

You could also say that subsidies are needed.
No, in the first place we do not want subsidies. And secondly, there is no legal basis for this. It is absolutely central to us not to touch the basic service even in the beginning. But hey, why are we even talking about dismantling?

Whence the question?
Because the Federal Council has just made a groundbreaking decision: it gave the green light to e-voting. In the future, we and especially our children will vote and choose with our mobile phones! Thanks also to Swiss Post, which provides the technology and is now responsible not only for postal voting, but also for electronic voting. It really makes a difference to our democracy. This is how we bring today’s youth to the e-urn tomorrow! I am very happy with that.

Still, I want to point out one negative point: the amateurish Fedpol procedure for the PostBus bitch is getting nowhere. Are there statutes of limitations?
Yes, of course there is a statute of limitations. And that irritates me. We finally want to put an end to that. So we cannot close our current cases in civil law.

So with the potentially fallible managers where you withheld the bonuses, right?
Exactly, we also want clarity about reimbursements. To do this, we need guidance from the Fedpol procedure. It really is a pity that there is no satisfactory solution in sight. Unfortunately.

Source:Blick