“When I was a little girl, I regularly took my afternoon nap in a Postbus. The humming of the engine was my lullaby.” These are the words of economist Sabine Krummen (38), who has been running Rapold Mobility AG since spring 2022. Her great-grandfather ran a mail coach business and founded the PostBus company based in Rheinau, Canton of Zurich, in 1894. For a long time it looked like the traditional company would have to close its doors. Matthias and Helen Rapold, the fourth generation, did not find any successor. Then they found a solution and were able to hand over the business to their daughter Sabine. She works in Kerzers in the Canton of Fribourg as Head of Sustainability in the internationally active goods logistics company belonging to her husband Peter and his brother Hans. Today, the PostBus company is part of the Krummen Group, which Sabine Krummen runs together with her father Matthias.

With ten employees, Rapold Mobility AG is one of around 100 PostBus companies and a prime example of flexibility and consistency. In an interview, co-managing director Sabine Krummen explains how this is achieved.

Your company has been in family hands for five generations – so what’s your formula for success?

My father has shown great dedication to setting up a pioneering company. A good, cooperative relationship with the client, Swiss Post, is very important. You also need to have the right DNA: a family needs entrepreneurship in its blood and a willingness to take responsibility. The company needs to be the family's collective baby – demanding all the flexibility that is required of parenthood.

What synergies are there between public transport and goods logistics?

There are a remarkable number of synergies with the large goods logistics company run by my husband Peter and his brother Hans. Both industries require similar skills from their employees – from driving to flexible planning and administration.

You live in the Canton of Fribourg, while your PostBus company is 180 kilometres away. How do you overcome this distance?

Mobility is my specialist topic and it starts in my head. I travel a lot: working on the train or in the back of a car is the most normal thing in the world for me. As a managing director, I enjoy freedom, but I also have to be prepared to pick up the phone at 3 a.m. in morning.

The Krummen Kerzers company, run by my husband Peter and his twin brother Hans, has five branches throughout Switzerland, two of which are in Eastern Switzerland. However, it wouldn’t be possible without my father Matthias Rapold, who works as the site manager in Rheinau.

You’re quite a talking point and at the beginning of the year you picked up oranges from Spain by electric truck.

We are particularly proud of this initiative. As far as we know, it was the world’s longest transport by electric truck! We are committed to sustainability, rely heavily on electromobility and will exceed the 10 percent threshold in our anniversary year of 2024: at least 25 of our 200 trucks will be fully electric. In this regard, we are fully in line with PostBus’s objectives.

So what about the sixth generation?

My girls are 6 and 8 years old and are still very busy with their Barbies and butterflies at the moment. But who knows...