The customs officer’s revenge
“In summer 1986 I joined Komax as an export clerk. I was 24 at the time, and had found what I was looking for: a Central Swiss company with family values and an international outlook. Like one big family, we discussed problems over lunch at the Restaurant Höfli in Ebikon, which was actually run at the time by the parents of Matijas Meyer, who has been CEO of the Komax Group since 2015. And our sales department was like an international airport, where every day I met people from all over the world – representatives and customers, who rang me or came to visit us in Dierikon for talks. Contact with all these people has always fascinated me, such as when our rather temperamental Italian representative was loudly taking care of business in his home country from my phone. Or when a Chinese customer left his cigarette sticking out of the corner of his mouth during a business lunch, before putting his head down on the table for a quick nap.”
“An experience in 2005 was not so amusing. I well remember a call from Halit, who worked at our Turkish agency. He was in utter despair. The consignment of spare parts that I’d dispatched to him a few days previously had arrived, but the Turkish customs had ripped all the items out of their labeled packaging. This meant Halit had no way of knowing which parts belonged in which package. It was clear that the customs officers had done it on purpose. Shortly beforehand, in Istanbul, the Swiss national football team had just managed to qualify for the World Cup in a match against Turkey – who failed to qualify. I’d watched the brawls after the final whistle live on television. Now I realized how the international situation – even just a football match – can influence international trade. Anyway, it was several days before Halit and I finished identifying all the parts, thanks to product photos on our system.”
“Working in exports can be very hectic, so in fall 2021 I moved over to Centralized Services. Here, too, I’m constantly aware of Komax’s international outlook. When visitors arrive from distant lands, my colleague and I at reception are often the first to welcome them to Dierikon.”