Die Schweizerische Post

Early postal services

Before the establishment of a united postal service in Switzerland in 1848, postal services were often carried out by a variety of independent messengers and postal services such as the Thurn und Taxis in Schaffhausen and the Fischerpost in Bern.

In the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803)

After the French military complained to the government of the recently established Helvetic Republic about the different uniforms of the postal services, the decision to form a united postal service was approved by the Swiss Senate in September 1798. In 1799, Switzerland was divided into five postal zones centered in Basel, Zürich, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen and Bern but the Swiss Government was not able to nationalize the already functioning and well-established independent postal services. By 1803 the administration of the Swiss postal services was returned to the cantons.

Under cantonal administration (1803–1848)

Between 1803 and 1848 the postal services were administrated by the cantons.

The canton of Zürich was a major provider of postal services at the time, as it also operated the postal services in the cantons Thurgau and Zug and its carriages were allowed to transit through the important Uri with its Gotthard Pass. From 1823 onwards, the postal services from Canton Zürich operated a carriage between Zürich via Rapperswil to Chur and from 1826 the carriage was in service on a daily basis. in 1829 a daily service between Basel and Zürich was established. In 1835 the service was expanded to Bern and three years later the line reached Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva. In 1835 the first steamboat was operated on Lake Zürich and in 1847 the first railway of Switzerland went into service between Zürich and Baden. In 1843, the cantonal post of Zürich issued the first stamp in Switzerland so the postman was relieved of the duty of collecting the money from the clients.

In Canton Bern the Fischerpost was the official provider of postal services, and it also operated the line over the Gotthard Pass to Italy. They were the official post service in the cantons of Solothurn, Fribourg and Geneva. Their position was rather dominant, much more so after Emanuel Friedrich von Fischer of the Fischer family was elected the president of the Bernese Republic. The Fischer dynasty ended in 1832, as the new Bernese liberal Government expropriated them.

Lucerne was the only canton which wanted to keep the post under a national administration, and had to withstand the Fischer family who attempted to obtain the postal rights from the canton in 1809 and again in 1814. Lucerne expanded its own service to the south in the Ticino, and its messengers were given transit rights through the cantons of Schwyz and Uri. From Lucerne carriages departed to St. Gallen, Olten and Basel. In 1839 the first steamboat on Lake Lucerne began to provide its services.

Uri leased transit rights to the postal services of Zürich. The condition was that the employees had to be from Uri. In 1828 Uri gave the right of transit to the postal services of Lucerne. From Altdorf in Uri, a daily carriage crossed over the Gotthard, reaching Milan in Italy.

The small Canton Glarus outsourced its postal services to two entrepreneurs until 1832, the year it began to operate the post through a cantonal administration.