Post chief Frank Appel continues to assume that the post office may soon increase their letter postage from the current 70 cents . „The future prospects for letter mail have continued to worsen,“ he told the „Welt am Sonntag“ .
For the time being, the Federal Network Agency had prohibited the increase in letter postage from 70 to 80 cents at the end of October, as requested by Deutsche Post . There would be too little information on why the postage should be more expensive.
According to Appel, the increase in postage but only „a few months“. This is related to the profit warning of the post office, thereby changing the basis of the business data for the decision, he told the newspaper. Already in the first quarter of 2019, he expects a decision.
Appel justified the increased personnel costs with decreasing letter volumes: „We need a higher postage, because our personnel costs increase by about three percent every year and at the same time letter volumes drop by a similar amount.“
Also higher prices in the parcel shipment
According to Appel, it could also become more expensive for parcel customers in the future: The post subsidiary DHL also wants to raise prices. According to the postmaster, delivery is underpaid: „In fact, the last 50 meters to the front door is the most expensive part of our service.“ But that’s where the efficiency can hardly be increased. At first, however, DHL does not plan a surcharge for doorstep delivery.
In the Hermes parcel service customers have to adjust in future to rising shipping costs for deliveries at the front door . Hermes-Germany boss Olaf Schabirosky had said that to the „Hamburger Abendblatt“ .
According to Schabirosky, the additional revenue should be used primarily to pay parcel delivery companies higher wages . „Currently we have a minimum wage of 9.50 € called in about four years, we arrive at twelve euros.“
Hermes had already raised the package prices to be paid by the shippers by an average of 4.5 percent in the spring. In 2019, there will be another price increase of a similar magnitude, announced Schabirosky. „Overall, we want to increase the price of a package by 50 cents, but this is only possible in several steps.“
Hermes is the second largest parcel service provider in Germany after DHL.
