Status: 08/22/2022 2:06 p.m
Business customers of DHL Paket will face sharp price increases from 2023. In addition to an increase in the base price, they will in future have to pay a variable energy surcharge and a “peak surcharge” during the Christmas period.
From the beginning of 2023, corporate customers of the Deutsche Post subsidiary DHL Paket will have to pay significantly more for the shipping of parcels. As the company announced, base prices will rise significantly. DHL Paket is also introducing two new surcharges.
On the one hand, there will be a variable energy surcharge from January 1, 2023, based on the price development of diesel, gas and electricity. The “indexed energy surcharge” on the base price of various products will be introduced to protect against fluctuations in energy costs, the reason given. The amount of the surcharge is determined monthly.
On the other hand, DHL Paket will charge a so-called “peak surcharge” of 19 cents per shipment in the months of November and December starting next year. In the last two months of the year, the volume of parcels is particularly high due to the Christmas season. The company justified this new surcharge with necessary investments in its own infrastructure, with the high personnel costs and higher purchase prices around Christmas.
Toll and CO2 surcharges will also increase
However, the group did not give details of the increase in the base price for DHL Paket. The prices for corporate customers are negotiated individually. Another component of the announced price increases is the adjustment of the toll and CO2 surcharge, which will increase by EUR 0.01 per shipment.
“We are all aware of the changing costs. We will therefore introduce new surcharges due to the volatile and strongly externally driven market development and necessary investments in our network,” explained Ole Nordhoff, Head of Marketing at Post & Paket Deutschland of the Deutsche Post DHL Group.
Price increase for private customers?
The company announced that the prices for DHL parcel shipping should not change for private customers. The announced price increases therefore only affect business customers. The national and international express business of the subsidiary DHL is also not affected by the package of increases.
Even if the price increases do not apply directly to private customers, companies could ultimately pass on their rising costs to end customers in the form of higher shipping costs.
The group had already raised the prices for private customers in advance. Since July, for example, 50 cents more has been due for the transport of a parcel of up to two kilograms than before.