Deutsche Post is planning to cut back on mail operations during the summer and will also close downits domestic night flight network on July 1 in order to save costs, German media reported.
Both measures were already announced by Juergen Gerdes, head of Deutsche Post’s Maildivision, at the company’s Capital Markets Day on May 6, as part of wider operational costreductions to cope with lower volumes. The company is also seeking longer working hours in order toimprove productivity.
A total of 16 of the 82 mail sorting centres in Germany will remain closed on Sundays duringJuly and August, and half of the postal delivery staff will stay at home on Mondays, Die Weltreported. Mail will be sorted at other sorting centres instead, and delivered by workers withlarger delivery rounds.
The move will save operational costs and is a response to the current drop in volumes due tothe recession. Mondays are traditionally a weaker day for volumes anyway. Deutsche Post would saveseveral million euros by closing a sorting centre for one night, according to the newspaper.
A Deutsche Post spokesman confirmed the measures but stressed there would be no impact onservice quality since mail would still be sorted and delivered. The company would continue tofulfil the Universal Service Obligation to deliver post six days a week, although this would applyonly to standard letters and newspapers. Sorting and delivery of advertising mail would be moved toother days of the week where possible.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Post will close down its German night flight network as of July 1 andthereafter transport all letters between sorting centres by road instead, German newspapersreported. The move would save between €40 million and €60 million a year.
Deutsche Post has historically always contracted airlines to provide dedicated night-timeflights to carry mail between major German cities. This has enabled the company to improve itsnext-day letter delivery performance to the current level of 96% compared to its legal obligationof 80%. Until recently, flights were mostly operated by Lufthansa with more than 30 flights a nightout of Frankfurt.
Over the last few years, however, the network has been downsized due to lower volumes andbetter transit times by road, and the few remaining flights were transferred to smaller airlinessuch as Germanwings, TUIfly and Air Berlin.
