Swiss postal ombudswoman to dismiss abusive emails from 'angry citizens'

Switzerland's postal ombudswoman is taking a firm stance against a growing wave of abusive and querulous correspondence directed at authorities. Claudia Scheiner, the ombudswoman for the Federal Postal Commission (Postcom), has introduced a new regulation allowing her to officially reject complaints that are "obviously abusive or querulous."

Scheiner described receiving emails filled with insults, baseless accusations, and even comparisons to Hitler, often stemming from minor disputes. One man, angered by having to move his mailbox, sent an email questioning the recipient's mental health based on the ICD-10 classification system and accusing the post office of "cold-blooded and brazen presumptions."

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This helps me to act more decisively with such individuals and to end correspondence with them.

These hostile messages, often characterized by excessive capitalization, exclamation points, and lengthy, pseudo-legal arguments, are increasingly being generated with the help of AI tools like ChatGPT. Scheiner reports receiving several hundred emails per year from a few particularly active individuals, many of whom remain unsatisfied even after mediation attempts and conciliatory offers.

The new paragraph in the ombudswoman's regulation is designed to provide a clearer framework for dismissing such correspondence. "This helps me to act more decisively with such individuals and to end correspondence with them," Scheiner explained. The term "Wutbürger" (angry citizen) used in the annual report to describe the target of this new rule is a unique formulation for a Swiss authority, highlighting the increasing frustration authorities face with such behavior.

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cold-blooded and brazen presumptions