Zurich
Mail, Post office in Zurich
Swiss Post (French: La Poste Suisse, Italian: La Posta Svizzera, German: Die Schweizerische Post, Romansh: La Posta Svizra) is the postal service of Switzerland. It is a public company owned by the Swiss Confederation and it is the country's second largest employer. The company is based in Bern.
Swiss Post offers a complete guide on how to send mail from letters to packages. There is even a helpful virtual counter. You can also ask questions at the Swisspost Customer Service line that has an English-speaking service from Monday to Friday, 07:00 to 19:00 and Saturday 08:00 to 13:00 at 0848 888 888.
Forwarding
Post can be forwarded to a new Swiss address for a period of one year. This service can be requested at the local post office, or it can be arranged online. Contact Swisspost at least three working days before the move. Complete info is available on their page for forwarding mail.
Postcodes
Switzerland uses four-digit numeric post codes, sorted by geographical location (from west to east). These do not follow political divisions (cantons, districts), but routing allocation like railways and post car routes. The postal code of big cities finish with 00, and it is not allocated if in the region there isn't a big center.
There are nine postal districts. Each district is subdivided into postal areas. Each area contains a maximum of one hundred units. The postal codes of the Zurich region are made up as follows: 8xxx - Region Zurich
- 80xx - City of Zurich
- 81xx - Region Zürcher Unterland
- 82xx - Region Schaffhausen, Kreuzlingen, Büsingen am Hochrhein (German enclave)
- 83xx - Kloten, Zürcher Oberland, Hinwil, Hinterthurgau
- 84xx - Region Winterthur, Tosstal
- 85xx - Region Frauenfeld, Weinfelden, Amriswil, Romanshorn
- 86xx - Region Dübendorf, Zürcher Oberland, See (SG)
- 87xx - Region Right shore of Lake Zurich, Gaster/See (SG), Canton Glarus
- 88xx - Region Linkes Zurichseeufer, Ausserschwyz (March, Hofe, Einsiedeln SZ), Glarner Unterland, Sarganserland/Lake Walen
- 89xx - Region Limmattal, Albis, Knonauer Amt, Kelleramt (eastermost Aargau)
For example, a post code for Zollbruck could be 3436 because
- 3 = district (Berne)
- 34 = area (Burgdorf)
- 343 = route (Burgdorf - Langnau)
- 3436 = post office number (Zollbruck)
Addressing
Example post office address
Jan Schmidt [person's name]
Tastentanzenstrasse 5/16 [street name + building-number/apartment-number]
8034 Zurich [postal code + city (Zurich)]
SWITZERLAND [country name]
If a letter has two dots over it, you may type an e after the letter instead of the dots.
Canton abbreviation may be needed if the name of city/town/village is not unique. That is "ZH" for Zurich.
Prices
- Standard letter (up to 100 grams) within Switzerland = 1 CHF
- Standard letter (up to 100 grams) outside of Switzerland = 1.40 to 1.90 CHF depending on location
Additional services like hand delivery, expedited service, etc. are available at additional costs. Stamps can be purchased at post office or online.
Update 18/08/2011
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