In Bern, a little-known organisation coordinates much of the world’s postal traffic. The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a UN agency, oversees a global infrastructure through which millions of letters and parcels pass every day. Just a few tram stops from the Federal Palace, the UPU coordinates the operation of a postal network that covers almost every country. From the Swiss capital, the UN agency ensures that letters and parcels circulate between countries. Every hour, more than 35,000 dispatch notifications pass through the UPU’s digital infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of letters and parcels leave one country, pass through another and arrive in a third. The organisation’s technology centre closely monitors this global process. “I follow these parcels very closely, to see exactly how they move through the system,” says Lati Matata, director of the Postal Technology Centre at the Universal Postal Union. A worldwide system born in the 19th century The UPU has carried out this ...
