Status: 07/04/2022 07:57 am
There are almost no more Deutsche Post branches. Customers should give up their packages and letters in kiosks, fashion shops or cannabis shops. That’s not lucrative for shop owners.
There are still three official post offices in Germany: in Bonn, the headquarters of Deutsche Post AG, in Berlin in the Bundestag and on the Zugspitze. They are a remnant from the past, because everything else has been handled in the shop system since 1995: in clothing stores, stationery shops or even shops for legal cannabis products.
But is it really worth selling stamps or accepting parcels for shop operators? “It says in the postal contracts that you have to and should expect that you can’t earn money with the services of the post office. You should be prepared for that,” says Udo Böer from the German Post Agency Association (PAGD). He should know: Udo Böer used to run a post shop himself and now represents independent retailers.
Hope for sales through more customers in the store
There are 25,500 postal agencies in Germany. One of them is in Kriftel in the Vordertaunus. Twelve years ago, brothers Sudir and Sumik Anand opened their fashion outlet store. It ran sparsely until the post office moved in. And that wasn’t just good for the 11,000 residents.
“Good for us too,” Sudir Anand sums it up. “Swiss Post was an absolute game changer for us. In practice, we got much, much more footfall in our business, which also enabled us to increase our sales enormously.”
What he means by that becomes clear on this Monday morning. It’s not a classic shopping time. But if you go in through the inbox, you have to get out through the fashion store. The postal customers quickly stop at the clothes rack and quickly buy the latest summer dress. The idea of reviving her core business worked in her case.
Corporate policy of Deutsche Post
That not is self-evident, the Anand brothers know. “You can’t make any money with the post office alone. None at all,” says Sudir Anand.
The regional communications department of Deutsche Post AG makes no secret of this. Not earning money is part of the company policy: “The cooperation brings our partners from the retail trade an increase in frequency and sales, since additional customer potential can be developed in addition to the customers for the core business.”
What the merchants get
Depending on the service, Swiss Post bills what the chain stores get in terms of money. In the case of stamps, for example, the postal agency gets five percent of the value. Registered mail is 40 cents. The Post also pays when a package goes through the counter, regardless of the size. And if you have a Postbank counter, you earn EUR 1.00 per deposit or withdrawal. The low margins will not change much if Swiss Post increases its prices for parcels next month.
Contracts leave little room for manoeuvre
Merchants who sell stamps and erasers, packages and disposable lighters “live on the edge of subsistence,” says Udo Böer from the Post Agency Association. His association estimates that every third agency is on the brink of collapse.
The problem lies in the contractual specifications of the postal service – and they leave little room for maneuver. The operators bear the risk of theft, checkout errors and even robberies.
These three examples from a contract that Hessian radio present. Example competition: There it says in paragraph 14:
In individual cases, the DP may operate its own stationary sales facilities and have stationary sales facilities operated by third parties. The partner is not assigned a specific sales area or customer group.
That’s good for Swiss Post customers – but it doesn’t pay off for self-employed retailers, especially in smaller towns.
Example of postage stamp vending machines: The merchants in the post shops are responsible for ensuring that the devices work. Paragraph 5 of the contract further states:
The partner cleans the stamp machine.
And during opening hours can be read in paragraph 5:
The partner will operate the branch on every working day of a calendar year that is not a public holiday. The daily opening hours of the branch correspond to those of his core business.
How the individual merchant manages the personnel costs is up to each retailer. Even if he goes on vacation at all. Udo Böer from the Post Agency Association sees this more than critically. In the communications department of Deutsche Post AG, it sounds like this:
While the average weekly opening time of post offices in 1990 was around 18 hours, Deutsche Post sales outlets are now open an average of 55 hours a week for postal customers.
grant from the city
And especially in rural areas, things often end tragically for the small post shops. In Laubach in central Hesse, for example, last year the motto was: goodbye. Then the city became the savior in need – and now has to subsidize the operation. “You can’t make a profit from the remuneration for the postal services and you can’t recover the personnel costs or the rent,” says Mayor Matthias Meyer.
The city adds a good 18,000 euros a year. After all, Deutsche Post is responsible for setting up the shop. Laubach still brings in some money by renting shelves for 50 euros a month to direct marketers.
Postbank closes locations
Meanwhile, the post office is looking for new merchants to take over a post shop: for branches that also have a Postbank branch in them. Postbank has long belonged to Deutsche Bank. And they want to close 200 Postbank branches nationwide in the next two years. If the doors are tight, the services of Deutsche Post will also be lost.
Udo Böer sums up bitterly: “A fool will be found.” Also because many had no idea about commercial things and believed to the end that money could be made with the post office as an additional business.