Favorable prices for consumers put mail under pressure

The times when the mail business went by itself are over. « The future will be more challenging, » says Serge Allegrezza when presenting the business figures for 2024 – his last press conference as President of the Board of Directors. He still remembers how the GSM business in Luxembourg caused unprecedented growth rates. But the market for telecommunications is now saturated. « In the future, Swiss Post will have to fight harder, » said Allegrezza. Nevertheless, he was pleased with the « relatively good result ».

Locembourg’s economy grew by one percent last year – as did the post group’s turnover. With 978 million euros, she narrowly missed the billion mark. « We would have been happy about it, » said Post Director Claude Strasser. Serge Allegrezza points out that the same number of employees generated higher sales in 2024. « It was a good year, » he concludes. « The turnover is all well and good, but we are interested in what remains the bottom line, » says Strasser.

Post 2024 generated around 50 million euros in profit. « We have now accumulated enough cash to finance our investments, » says Strasser. In the end there was even money left that was paid out to the shareholders as a dividend: the state treasury received a transfer of 15 million euros. The rest of the mail for future investments is supported by the rest. The company invested 131 million euros last year.

In the mail, you are particularly proud of decoupling growth and energy consumption. « With 127 GWh, we are one of the big consumers, » says Claude Strasser. Swiss Post is responsible for one to two percent of the country’s total electricity consumption, with two thirds of them to be eliminated on the data centers. Nevertheless: During sales, energy consumption decreased by three percent. In the future it should continue to decrease.

However, this does not apply to sales in the Telekom area, the largest pillar of the post office. In the case of mobile telephony, internet connections and TV connections, the post office is and remains market leader. To ensure that this will stay that way in the future, the company rebuilt its offer last year. « Bamboo, PosttV and Scoubido became a new product: pop, » said Strasser. The post-director emphasizes that his company has the country’s best network, but adds: « This is a press conference, not an advertising event. »

« The end of an era »

As for internet care, the post office runs in two tracks. In addition to the fiber optic network, she still maintains the copper network. But its end is already foreseeable: « The copper network has done its job for 50 years, now it is technically at the end, » says Strasser. While the number of households connected to the fiber optic network grows every year, the number of copper connections decreases in parallel. At the moment there are still 33,900 buildings, soon it should be 0.

Because in 2030 the copper network will be switched off and the fiber optic cover will reach 100 percent by then. « It will be the end of an era, » said Strasser. Swiss Post tries to move customers to switch. So far, however, only 71 percent of households that have been connected to the modern network have changed.

The generation change has already been completed in the telephony. In the meantime, almost every Luxembourg has a mobile phone and hardly anyone is still interested in landline connections. There will be hardly any growth in this area, the market for mobile phone calls is saturated – and hotly contested. « In the past, the Telekom products have become cheaper for the end consumer, » said Strasser. What the consumer is happy about is a headache to the post director.

Because the “oldest profession” of the post office, the mail mail, has also been in decline for years. In 2012, the postmen made 160 million letters, in 2024 there were only 93 million. However, the number of packages increased in the same period. « We held 8.4 million packages last year, » said Strasser. This is also the limit of what is possible for the post office. This only worked because the posters « made a lot of packages, which used to be the case, » said Strasser, who then also thanked the postmen.

Because the “oldest profession” of the post office, the mail mail, has also been in decline for years. In 2012, the postmen made 160 million letters, in 2024 there were only 93 million. However, the number of packages increased in the same period. « We held 8.4 million packages last year, » said Strasser. This is also the limit of what is possible for the post office. This only worked because the posters « made a lot of packages, which used to be the case, » said Strasser, who then also thanked the postmen.

The postmen received support from the recipients, which was « a big surprise » at the post office. They often stood in front of closed doors and the customers had to pick up their packages later at the post. « In 2024 we started a campaign that met with great reverberation. » The number of customers who allow the postman to hand over the package to the neighbor, behind the blue bin or in the garden house, has tripled – the number of packages that the postman had to take again could then be shared by three. « We get inquiries from abroad how we did it, » says Strasser.

Swiss delivery campaign ensures surprises

Nevertheless, the declining development in the mail mail area could not be stopped. The turnover amounted to 176 million euros, with a decreasing trend. But the post has got used to this: « It has no huge impact on our result, » says Strasser.

At Telekom, the largest pillar of the post office, the business stagnates while the letter post became less. So where did the win come from? « Post-finance is our smallest pillar and contributed the most to the company’s profit, » said Strasser. The increased interest rate in 2024 caused the increase in profit, but the interest has now decreased again. « In 2025, the business will run less well in the event of post-finance, » says Strasser. The interest rate level could also fall further.

But the future not only brings challenges: Strasser also reports on positive things. Towards the end of the press conference, he appeals to a pilot project that starts in the coming months. In the future, drones could support the postmen in their work. « The first test drone will take off this year, » said Strasser.