Having just moved here , I have been checking my postbox daily for important documents to be delivered such as residence permit, bank card etc.

My address , used for correspondance has been in the format

Full Name
Street Name , Appartment number
8050
Oerlikon
Zurich

I notice that all the post boxes at my appartment have names on them. In my ignorance , I have not put my name on, believing that the appartment number should suffice.

Have I made an error ? Obviously I will put my name on it tonight...
Will any post have been returned to sender , or kept by the post office ?

Sigh...

Yes, put your name on the postbox otherwise the postman may not deliver, or deliver mail into the wrong postbox.

Seems like hard work for the postman to ignore the actual appartment number , as all the post boxes are in appartment number order. If he insists on posting by name, then he has to look at all the post boxes...

Mustn't grumble, when in Rome etc...

Thanks for the help though.

The post won't deliver if there's no name on your postbox. Have a try to the post office if they have keep it a few days over them.

But it's more likely that your stuff have been returned to the sender....

Most flats/apartments that I've seen here have only the number for the building, I've never seen apartments that are individually numbered. For instance Oddbruckstrasse 459 could have 6 apartments there and the only way to identify which apartment the mail is for is through the name.

recently, the postman put up a yellow sticky notice addressed to a former tenant in our block asking if a person by that name still lived here, as there was mail for them. evidently, the post man noticed that there was no mail box for them but was prudent enough to enquire.

also, i have a redirection from a UK address to CH which covers two names. Although the surname is the same for both, I still got a yellow sticky note requesting confirmation that my mail box was the correct box.

Incidentally, the agency, if you have one, should provide you with the mail box name, together with the name tag for next to the door bell.

Hence my misguided faith... All the post boxes at my appartment have the appartment numbers on them. As this is the only place I have lived at in ZH, seems my first experience of daily life is an exception.

Apartment number alone is insufficient identification for the post. Consider these situations:

• Mail is intended for previous tenant, who has moved out.
• Apartment is empty.
• Typing error in apartment number.

Hence, mail is always delivered to a named person.

But I can help poor old postie by putting the appt number on my correspondance right ? It must be hard to have to scan all the names on the postboxes for every letter...

I have a horrible fear my bank card and Pin have been returned to sender, 2 days from payday...

Can we help some other poor sod avoid my mistake , is there a sticky or FAQ that would benefit from my experience ?

Definitely present yourself down the post office and ask.

Definitely put your name on your letter box.

Hope you get your mail...

Seldom in Switzerland do you see 1 address for each and every single apartment, the norm is 1 address for 1 building (or 1 address to the main entrance of each section of a building). So often you have in larger buildings dozens of names all with the same address. No name in the mail box and the postman has no idea whose box the mail is suppose to go into.

But the letters have my apartment number on...
The apartments have one mailbox for each apartment
It is easier to match the address using the apartment number , because the apartment boxes are all sequentially ordered and follow a trend. 509 is 5 rows down, 9 columns across. Looking for my name would involve scanning all 50 mailboxes... It must make life easier for poor old posty if he could see the apartment number too ?

As logical as it is in your situation you're the exception. The postman has a letter for "John Doe", despite the letter having the address 509 on it box 509 has no declaration on the mail box that a John Doe receives mail there.

What if there were two John Does in the same apartment but in different rooms ?

You need your name clearly posted on your mail box to be sure you can properly receive your mail. Don't worry, Postman Schweizer isn't going to leave a letter for John Doe 509 in the other John Doe's 311 box..