Our only bad mail experience so far was when my wife ordered some makeup from the US. The package arrived, but it was neatly sliced open, the contents removed, replaced with a wadded up italian newspaper, and re-taped.
After the recent incident of my mail not being delivered, I called in to the local post office and explained the situation. The helpful lady agreed that it was unusual that most of my mail was being delivered (especially the bills) but that Birthday cards were not. She advised me to send an email to the following address [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) which I did. Note that you can also send your email in English but it may take a little longer to get a response.
I have to say that the reply was - dare I say it - typically Swiss. Let me explain that quickly before people jump down on me. I find that there is a strong sense of pride with the local Swiss folk and they often do not believe that there would be any inappropriate behaviour within their own environment (in this case the Swiss post) and that any problem must lie elsewhere. It's all down to a certain naive trust that -sadly - belongs in more rural areas and a time gone by rather than in modern Zürich.
In my original email I informed them that I had a recent problem with the delivery of some Birthday cards from three separate countries. Here is their response.
In my first year here I started receiving several complaints that the mail people send me were being returned with "recipient unknown". Even though my name was on the box and I was already receiving mail without problems. From the very same people/companies.
So everytime they called me up and complained about it I just told them to send it again and then the mail was magically arriving.
It no longer happens now that I've put my name in flashing red neon on the mailbox.