The closure of German mail-order company Quelle will hit revenues and jobs at Deutsche Post DHL’smail and supply chain divisions as the group hopes for a general economic upturn to boost business.
About 400 jobs could be at risk.Quelle will be wound down after insolvent parent company Arcandor failed to find an investorfor the loss-making mail-order business. DHL delivers catalogues and parcels for Quelle, and alsoprovides supply chain services for the other Arcandor division, Karstadt.
CEO Frank Appel admitted yesterday that the loss of Quelle as a major customer would mean “consequences” for the company but he refused to say how many jobs are at risk. “There is no panicbut we cannot exclude an impact on employees,” he said.
Revenues from Quelle had already fallen in recent months as the mail-order company’s volumesdeclined, Appel pointed out. He did not disclose the size of revenues from DHL contracts withArcandor but stated they were less than €1 billion, a frequently reported figure. The former Quelleparcel volumes would go to other mail-order companies, he added.
German media reported today that some 400 jobs will go with the closure of three logisticscentres operated by DHL for Quelle. The company has already reduced 560 jobs involved in Arcandorlogistics operations. In total, about 3,000 DHL employees were previously involved in logisticsactivities for Arcandor.
Regarding economic trends, Appel said that Deutsche Post DHL is not yet seeing anysignificant upturn based on its figures for July and August, although it hopes for a recovery.However, among customer segments, the electronics sector seemed to be doing well, he noted.
The Deutsche Post CEO declined to comment on the status of the ongoing negotiations with theVerdi union over a new agreement for mail employees, including changes to working times. But hedefended the need for a minimum wage in the postal sector to prevent competitors from paying wages “ that their employees cannot live from”.
