The postal service has changed completely in the time I have lived in Sweden.
The first thing that happened was that most Post Offices were closed down in favour of postal agencies (supermarkets, corner shops, gas stations) where you could collect your packages until late evening, seven days a week. Then, as the number of letter deliveries dropped and the number of parcels increased, letter deliveries dwindled to once every two days. Paper delivery slips were abolished and all notifications came via the app or text. Now you can buy your stamps and send registered letters and parcels using the app. You do all the admin on your phone and are given a number code to write on your envelope instead of a stamp. You don’t even have to go near the post office.
Nowadays if you need to do the traditional postal errands, you need to find a company post office. But once you are there, you can do all kinds of things. Like collect your parcel, go into a changing room and open and check/try out your item. If it is clothing, you can see it in 360° on a digital mirror. Then if you are not happy you just pack it up again and post it straight back. Below is our local post office changing room and digital mirror.
The postal service in Germany is antiquated and a pure disaster… If we miss the postman or if the postman doesn’t feel like ringing at the door, we have to pay an extra charge of €6 to drive all the way to one of their chosen parcel centers to get the parcel. And we have to queue for an hour for that privilege. Letters get delivered without too many problems though. Silver lining?