Regardless of whether he is driving through the estate in a yellow or white-blue van: For many people, the delivery driver has become part of everyday life. In the past year, every person in Germany received an average of 49 parcels, reports the postal service provider Pitney Bowes. Average values should be taken with caution: While children and many older people hardly receive parcels, others accept even more – even if it is only for business.
But the trend is clear: In the pandemic year 2020, twelve percent more shipments were sent in this country than in the previous year, reports the Federal Association of Parcel and Express Logistics. Since stores have had to close for weeks or only open under certain conditions, online retailers and parcel services have reported records. Deliverers have “become one of the pillars of society,” says Burkhard Heihoff, Pitney Bowes’ head in Germany. However, shopping behavior has changed even more elsewhere. In Great Britain, for example, there were an average of 74 consignments per person, in Japan 72. In the USA and China, too, people received an average of more parcels than in Germany.
Of course, the boom has its downsides: for example, the large amount of packaging waste or precarious working relationships with subcontractors. Again and again the customs found indications that companies did not register their messengers for social security or that the wage fell below the minimum wage. For two years now, the state has made parcel services more liable in such cases.
For years companies had made less and less money per package, but that is changing
This is an expression of a tough price war. For years, parcel services took less and less money per shipment on average. But that has changed: in 2020 local companies earned an average of around 4.50 euros per package, reports Pitney Bowes. Less than in France or Italy, but an impressive five percent more than in the previous year. Parcel services are pushing through higher prices, for example compared to online retailers. That seems to be continuing: Deutsche Post and its competitor DPD want to increase parcel prices for business customers at the turn of the year. They point to higher transport and personnel costs, and they are also investing in larger sorting centers, for example.
Overall, according to Pitney Bowes, the Post increased its share of the parcel market in Germany slightly last year: from 48 to 49 percent. The study names Hermes and UPS as the next largest competitors. The DHL Group has the great competitive advantage that one and the same deliverer brings letters and parcels in rural areas. In cities too, Swiss Post lets postmen transport more and more small consignments of goods.
Pitney Bowes had the 13 largest parcel markets in the world examined for the so-called Parcel Shipping Index; they are states in which a total of 3.8 billion people live. The study is based on information from market researchers, associations and companies. Pitney Bowes predicts that the number of shipments in the markets under review is likely to increase by a further 76 to 130 percent by 2026. After all, online trading is “an indispensable part of our lives,” said Heihoff.