Never mind the printer, Swiss Post has a return label for you

Martin Jungfer

24.11.2025

Translation: Katherine Martin

Pictures: Martin Jungfer

When you return a Digitec or Galaxus product, you usually have to print out a label for the parcel. With our new «Print your own return label» feature, however, you can get Swiss Post to do it for you.

Admittedly, we’re not the first online shop to come up with this idea. Some companies have already made it easier for customers to send back products that need returning. As far as Switzerland’s concerned, however, you could call us «early adopters».

At least that’s how Roger Dill, Head of Product in Digitec Galaxus’s Product Development team, would describe us. He was keen that I write a magazine article to spread the good news about labelless returns. But before I could fire up my laptop, I obviously had to find out whether the feature actually worked. And you know, do all that journalistic stuff, like research and verifying people’s claims.

Conveniently enough, I’d recently ordered a pair of jeans from Galaxus that didn’t fit. Since I still had them lying around, I popped them back into the retailer’s packaging and registered the return in my customer account. Straight away, I got an e-mail containing a link. When I clicked on it, I was taken to the confirmation page with a QR code on it. That’s the code you need at the post office.

Real-world test – passed

With the admin out of the way, I head out with my parcel and iPhone at the ready. The phone, of course, has the e-mail containing the link stored on it. Return label QR codes work «in selected Swiss Post branches». There are 2,208 of these «selected» branches in total, including myPost24 machines, so there’s a high chance there’ll be a suitable option near you.

Where I live, there’s a «partner branch» – a Voi store, with a mini, post office-style counter next to the checkout. Fortunately, this stripped-back version of a Swiss Post branch is one of the ones where the QR codes can be used.

The guy behind the counter shoots me a sceptical look when I put the labelless parcel down in front of him. But when I whip out the QR code on my iPhone, he pulls out a scanner and hits the button. The machine does its thing, then sends a command to a label printer. After checking he’s satisfied with the result, the guy with the scanner sticks the label onto the parcel. He then gives me a printout as proof that I’ve sent off the parcel. Job done.

A hackathon idea becomes reality

The idea of simplifying the returns process for customers without a printer is yet another innovation arising from Digitec Galaxus’s annual hackathon. Although a functional prototype of the labelless returns concept had already been hashed out in June, the development team, Team Nucular, still had to spend some time working on the feature’s design and usability. Of course, they also had to test it before it could be rolled out.

Making things easier for customers without a printer

For someone like me, the «Print your own return label» feature is a nice backup option. If the printer in my home office ever decides to throw another temper tantrum, I’ll be able to get return labels printed at the post office. As Roger points out, however, there’s also an increasing number of customers who don’t have a printer. In the past, our Customer Service team has assisted these customers by printing out a label and sending it to them in the post. «That was obviously quite a lot of effort,» says Roger, adding, «Some weeks, we sent out several hundred». That effort should now be decreased, which, of course, will also reduce costs. It’ll also be quicker, as customers won’t have to wait to get a label in the mail.

However, our customers won’t be able to ditch printers altogether. If you’re selling a used product on our resale platform, you’ll still need to print the parcel label yourself. That’s because the recipient gets a code with the parcel, which they then need to scan to confirm delivery.

Roger and his team are already thinking about ways to make this a digital process. They’re keen to make doorstep parcel collection a printout-free process too, but as Roger points out, this isn’t something Galaxus can do alone. It’s completely up to Swiss Post to make that idea a reality.

Martin Jungfer

Head of Content

Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment. more

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