Deutsche Post mulls higher postage charges

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Deutsche Post, Germany’s state-run postal service, is considering raising its postage charges to compensate its workers for planned cuts, The Local reported on 27 June. According to regulations, the company is only allowed to raise its fees when inflation is strong. But Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel said that politicians should consider postal charges more flexibly, and in line with actual market forces. A review of the current charges is scheduled for 2012. The cost of sending a standard letter has not been raised in Germany for 13 years, and was actually lowered to 55 cents in 2003. But Deutsche Post has already called for an annual inflation-adjusted re-assessment of postage charges. Appel argued that the current regulation only made sense in an era when the volume of post was constantly rising. This is no longer the case. Nowadays the postman only puts one letter in the box, when before he put two. That costs us money, he said. Appel also said that Deutsche Post’s legal obligation to deliver mail six days a week was only of limited value for the customer. But he added that there were no plans to cut back delivery schedules to five days a week.

[Lounge Lizard]

The cost of sending a standard letter has not been raised in Germany for 13 years, and was actually lowered to 55 cents in 2003 but here second class is up from 20p to 32p and first class from 26p to 41p since 1997.