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On June 26, 1964, Switzerland introduced postal codes. It is the third country after Germany (1961) and the United States (1963) to have decided to use a number in front of the name of the locality. The thinking began during the Second World War.
In 1941, the German Reich Post introduced a two-digit code to cope with the large number of letters processed by the field post and the lack of geographical knowledge of the staff, recalls the Swiss Post on the occasion of this jubilee.
The real breakthrough of the postal number took place at the beginning of the 1960s when the semi-automatic sorting machines adopted by the postal services took hold and increased sorting capacities by 50%. The first countries to adopt them were Germany and the United States and Switzerland in 1964. Most countries then followed.
Not random numbers
The four digits of the postal number have a very specific meaning. The first number refers to the region and is assigned from west to east by the Post Office. Lausanne received the smallest postal delivery number, 1000.
The second digit specifies the regional location. For example, 90xx is assigned to the city of St. Gallen and its surroundings up to Appenzell, 94xx includes Rorschach, the Rhine Valley and the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the region of Wil is numbered 95xx.
The third number indicates the rail route via which the mail is transported. Since letters and parcels are now also transported by road, this figure is no longer important today.
Finally, the fourth digit indicates the exact locality. The highest value assigned to a locality is in Toggenburg: 9658 Wildhaus.
Also for businesses
There are 4,385 postal routing numbers in Switzerland assigned to places of residence, post office boxes and businesses. La Poste therefore has its own postal number, 3030 Berne.
The German enclave of Büsingen also has two postal routing numbers, one Swiss and one German. On the other hand, the Italian enclave of Campione d’Italia has lost its Swiss postal number. Since January 2020, Campione has been part of the European customs territory for which only the Italian postal number is valid.
Temporary NPAs
There are still other special cases. For example, the locality of “La Cibourg” has three different NPAs because it extends over three municipalities and two cantons. It also happens that very remote places have a postal number: for example 3801 Jungfraujoch for three households and 3823 Eigergletscher for one household.
Some postal numbers may also be assigned temporarily. The federal camp of the Swiss Scout Movement in 2022 in Haut-Valais was thus awarded the “3990 Ulrichen CaFé” for the thousands of parcels, letters and postcards sent. The number has since been deactivated.
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