Deutsche Post transports significantly fewer letters

Because more and more people are using digital communication channels, Deutsche Post’s mail business has recently shrunk significantly. A new law is intended to extend delivery times – and thus enable the group to make savings.

Deutsche Post transported significantly fewer letters last year than the previous year. The postal company DHL announced that the volume of shipments fell by 5.6 percent to around 12.6 billion in 2023. In 2022 there was only a decrease of 0.3 percent; in previous years the decline was in the range of two to three percent. The reason for the falling demand is digitalization – many people use emails or chats for communication and therefore do without letters.

In contrast, demand for parcel services is increasing, especially because a large proportion of consumers regularly order from online retailers. The volume of parcels transported by DHL in Germany increased last year by 3.8 percent to around 1.7 billion. The Bonn-based logistics company is by far the market leader in Germany in the letter and parcel business.

Rules of carriage should change

When transporting letters, the postal service must adhere to rules that date back to the 1990s. Accordingly, 80 percent of the letters posted today must arrive on the next working day. 95 percent must reach the recipient within two working days. That should change according to the federal government’s plans. The Federal Cabinet had launched plans for a new postal law, which, among other things, would allow the postal service to have longer deadlines for delivering letters.

With this change, the Bonn-based group could reduce its costs. The postal service’s annual figures for the mail business that have now been presented should be seen as a further argument that the old law needs to be changed. In the future, 95 percent of standard letters should reach the recipient on the third working day after being posted and 99 percent on the fourth working day.

No more letter transport flights in the future

Deutsche Post DHL wants to soon forego letter transport flights in view of the longer letter transit times provided for in the draft of the new postal law. “Longer transit times no longer require night flights,” said DHL boss Tobias Meyer. The group will probably be able to stop flights over the course of the year. Meyer assumes that the new regulations will be finally adopted in the third quarter.