The sculpture of Pegasus that adorns the UPU building.
Keystone/Edi Engeler
In Bern, a little-known organisation coordinates much of the world’s postal traffic. The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a UN agency, oversees a global infrastructure through which millions of letters and parcels pass every day.
Just a few tram stops from the Federal Palace, the UPU coordinates the operation of a postal network that covers almost every country. From the Swiss capital, the UN agency ensures that letters and parcels circulate between countries.
Every hour, more than 35,000 dispatch notifications pass through the UPU’s digital infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of letters and parcels leave one country, pass through another and arrive in a third. The organisation’s technology centre closely monitors this global process.
“I follow these parcels very closely, to see exactly how they move through the system,” says Lati Matata, director of the Postal Technology Centre at the Universal Postal Union.
A worldwide system born in the 19th century
The UPU has carried out this task since 1874. The organisation was created to simplify exchanges between national postal services and guarantee the international routing of mail.
Originally, the system was dominated by traditional communications such as letters and postcards. But in recent years, the nature of these flows has changed significantly with the rise of online commerce.
“First there was communication – in other words letters and postcards, the traditional things. But today we are increasingly seeing a rise in commercial exchanges,” says Matata.
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The surge in small parcels from Asia
A growing share of consignments now consists of online orders. E-commerce platforms send products directly to customers around the world.
Most of these small packages come from China, via platforms such as Shein and Temu. For a long time, the country benefited from advantageous shipping rates within the international postal system.
“But today, things have changed. We had a meeting in 2019 at which all these conditions were revised. Now China is playing by the same rules as any other country,” explains Altamir Linhares, director of Postal Policy at the UPU.
Towards a tax on small imported parcels
In Switzerland, the scale of the phenomenon is considerable. It is estimated that more than 100,000 small packages, weighing an average of 70 grams, arrive from China every day.
Faced with this influx, several countries are considering new measures. In July the European Union plans to introduce a tax of €3 (CHF2.75) per imported item to regulate these flows.
In Switzerland the government is also examining the possibility of introducing a similar tax, as the rapid growth of online commerce continues to reshape the global postal system.
Translated from French using AI/amva/ts
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