“Deutsche Post Study Shows Cheaper Postage in Germany Compared to Rest of Europe”

Deutsche Post has once again compared the postage for letters in Germany with the postage in the rest of Europe. The result is that the postage for the standard letter in Germany is becoming cheaper and cheaper in comparison to other European countries. According to the Post, this is due to the fact that most postal companies in Europe have increased their prices, in some cases drastically, since the last letter price study by Deutsche Post. However, the postage in Germany remained unchanged “despite considerable cost increases”. Unsurprisingly, the post combines this knowledge with the demand for a postage increase. At the same time, she brings up a second topic that would radically change the way letters are sent in Germany.

Finland: Letters generally take two days

For example, Deutsche Post refers to the situation in Finland, where the Posti there has stopped offering letter delivery on the following day. It therefore only offers delivery after two days. Since this product costs a little less, Finland has dropped significantly in several rankings. And something else caught the attention of Swiss Post: most European postal companies now offer a slower variant in addition to the letter with a one-day delivery time, which is only delivered after several days. In eight of the countries considered in this study, the respective postal company no longer offers any letters with standard next-day delivery.

It is not surprising that Swiss Post uses these results to renew the call for changes to the legally defined universal postal service. It is said that postal regulations in Germany still reflect the analogue world of the 1990s. Swiss Post is currently obliged to deliver a large proportion of the letters sent every day on the next working day. “Differentiating transit times is normal in Europe and is in the interests of customers. In our neighboring countries, it has long since been recognized that promoting competition in the rapidly shrinking mail market is not an effective principle,” says Ole Nordhoff, Head of Product Management in the Post & Parcel Germany division. He calls for a suitable regulatory framework that will demand a “reliable and affordable universal service”. This should then promote good working conditions as well as a faster transformation to climate-neutral letter and parcel transport.

Postage well over 2 euros not uncommon

By the way: The most expensive country for sending letters is according to the information, as in previous years, Denmark. Here a letter costs the equivalent of 4.30 euros for delivery on the next working day. The cheapest provider at 37 cents for a standard letter has been the Post Office in Malta for 15 years, despite a slight price increase last year. Overall, national letter postage in Europe rose by eight cents to an average price of 1.33 euros due to price increases in 21 of the 31 countries surveyed. In five countries (Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Finland and Iceland) the postage is even more than two euros.