60 years of postal codes in Switzerland
Published: Sunday, Jun 16th 2024, 09:50
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Switzerland introduced postal codes on June 26, 1964. After Germany (1961) and the USA (1963), it was the third country in the world to introduce the number before the place name. The first efforts to introduce postal codes were made during the Second World War.
The German Reichspost developed two-digit codes in 1941 due to the large number of letters in the field post and the lack of geographical knowledge of the remaining postal staff, as Swiss Post announced on the anniversary.
When semi-automatic sorting machines became established in Europe and increased sorting capacity by 50 percent, first Germany and then Switzerland introduced postal codes. Most countries subsequently adopted this method. However, 70 countries use other systems.
The zip codes have a precisely defined meaning. The first number stands for the regions, which are numbered from west to east. Lausanne, as the central hub for postal traffic, was given the lowest zip code 1000.
The second number delimits the location. 90 stands for the city of St. Gallen and the surrounding area as far as the Appenzellerland. 94 denotes Rorschach, the Rhine Valley and the Principality of Liechtenstein, 95 the area around Wil SG.
The third digit indicates the rail route on which the mail is transported. As mail items are now only transported by rail between sorting centers, this figure has become meaningless.
Finally, the fourth number denotes the town. The highest zip code in Switzerland is 9658 Wildhaus SG in Toggenburg. There are 4405 zip codes in Switzerland, not only for places but also for post office boxes and companies. Swiss Post has its own zip code, namely 3030 Bern.
Two zip codes for the German town of Büsingen
The German enclave of Büsingen has two zip codes, one Swiss and one German. However, the Swiss zip code for the Italian enclave of Campione has been discontinued. Campione has been part of the European customs union since 2020, which is why only the Italian zip code applies.
Kefikon also has two zip codes because it lies exactly on the border between Thurgau and the canton of Zurich: 8546 Kefikon TG and 8543 Kefikon ZH. The village of La Cibourg in the Jura even has three zip codes because it stretches across three municipalities in two cantons.
Zip codes do not stop at the high mountains. 3801 applies to the three households on the Jungfraujoch and 3823 to the one on the Eiger Glacier.
©Keystone/SDA
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