Tens of thousands of citizens complain about the post office again

Services - Tens of thousands of citizens complain about the post office again

Delayed, damaged or lost letters and parcels are a source of frustration for many German citizens. The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, said in Bonn on Wednesday that by the end of the year, the number of complaints is likely to have significantly exceeded 40,000. According to the Network Agency's forecast, the previous year's figure of 43,512 is likely to be almost reached. This is remarkable, as it was a record figure in 2022 - almost three times as high as in 2021 (around 15,000). Almost 90 percent of the criticism is directed at the market leader Deutsche Post, with the remainder directed at competitors.

According to the complaint figures, the situation has improved only marginally since last year. In the first twelve days of December 2023 alone, around 3300 complaints were received. If things continue at this pace, the previous month's figure will be exceeded. A Swiss Post spokesperson says that the volume of consignments is very high during the Christmas period and that there are also many sick days, which "cannot always be fully compensated for by staff reserves".

In view of the current wave of flu and colds, the high sickness rates are a plausible reason. However, the question arises as to why the staff cushion is so thin that cases of illness cannot be compensated for. Trade unionists complain that the Bonn-based company is cutting staffing levels at some locations in order to keep costs as low as possible.

Complaints account for a very small proportion of the mail volume

According to the Post spokesperson, the situation is "much more stable" than a year ago. "More than 95 percent of letters and more than 93 percent of parcels reliably reached their recipients within two days of dispatch in November." In fact, the proportion of letters and parcels transported in Germany that are subject to complaints is negligible, totaling around 15 billion items in 2022. However, there are probably also many citizens who have negative experiences and still do not complain to the supervisory authority.

A recent incident in Munich caused quite a stir. According to police reports, a letter carrier threw almost 1,000 letters into several garbage cans and a clothes container instead of taking them to the recipients. A local resident saw this and alerted the police. Swiss Post responded, terminated the employment relationship and apologized to the customers. According to the company, the items that were initially thrown away were eventually delivered after all. This is certainly an extremely isolated incident - but it is nevertheless a cause for concern about the situation in the industry.

Postal law reform is in the works

The surprisingly high level of complaints in 2023 comes at the worst possible time for Swiss Post. This is because federal politicians are currently working on reforming the outdated Postal Act. As a universal service provider, the Bonn-based company must comply with regulations that are associated with high costs. For example, at least 80 percent of letters posted today must be delivered on the next working day. In 2022, the logistics provider only managed this by the skin of its teeth; the Federal Network Agency came up with a figure of 80.4 percent, 3.7 percentage points less than in 2021. Due to the time pressure, the company has to use night flights that only transport letters.

According to an initial draft reform, this rule is to be relaxed in future. This would be good for Swiss Post, as the night flights could be saved. However, another part of the Federal Ministry of Economics' proposal would be bad, according to which the Network Agency would be allowed to impose fines on Swiss Post in future. So far, it has not been able to do this: it collects complaints and admonishes the Post, but it does not have any real means of exerting pressure.

Swiss Post resists the possibility of fines

If the Federal Ministry of Economics' proposal for fines is implemented, Federal Network Agency President Müller would have a sharper sword at his disposal. But what would fines actually do to solve the problem? Former Post CEO Frank Appel once remarked narrow-lipped that this would not help in the search for sufficient personnel, as the labor market was simply empty in some places. Appel had said that the Network Agency would be happy to help the Post in its search for personnel.

Network Agency boss Müller has little use for such an argument. In his view, the possibility of fines is necessary in order to put financial pressure on companies and encourage them to improve. "Ideally, the threat of fines would ensure that they never take action," said Müller. "Fines would have a preventative effect."

According to the Berlin reform proposal, the fine could amount to up to two percent of DHL's global turnover in future. The Post considers such a maximum value to be inappropriate. The head of the authority, Müller, notes that the approach is always proportionate, also because decisions made by the Network Agency have to stand up in court.

Politicians have criticized the market leader from the Rhineland. "Swiss Post is not getting its problems under control," says Reinhard Houben, FDP member of the Bundestag, referring to the continuing high number of complaints. The company has obviously not initiated any measures that are sustainable and will improve the situation in the long term.