Again today I got angry at Swiss Post. I’m sending a small A5 photo calendar to Portugal. I check online, the stamps for 125 grams cost 7,50 Fr and I decide it is easier to go and send it directly at the office.
Arrived there, while waiting, I got approached and when looking at the envelopes they warn me: “you need a customs declaration” and gives me a cut off QR code that sends me to the Swiss Post website.
As my turn arrives soon, I wait few seconds to get to the desk. There she confirms that for sending a calendar I need a customs declaration, even though in the last few years I never did that and was never a problem.
The person starts to fill it up and at the end says: it is 28 Fr for the two letters. So, no only it is not considered letter but a “package” that costs 9 Fr and they charge 5 Fr for filling the form, without even informing before about it.
Just for the record, my previous adventures with the Swiss Post:
- registered letter from Portugal (for voting in the elections) was returned after arriving to Bern, without trying to deliver. They admit it was a mistake
- Several letters from Switzerland are returned without trying to deliver, because they are sent to my full name and on their system I had only one surname. It took months to solve and was even the Post Bank who at the end helped out to find the reason.
- A registered priority letter with signature to Portugal took 20 days to be delivered and never got the signature or confirmation of deliver.
My summary is: Swiss Post delivers a bad expensive service, that unfortunately I cannot easily avoid.