Because letters arrive too late or not at all, more and more citizens are turning to the Federal Network Agency. Around 9,700 complaints were received in October, almost twice as many as in September (5,000), the Bonn regulatory authority said when asked by the dpa.
In the course of the year so far there have been more than 30,000 complaints. This is also a doubling, compared to 15,000 in the whole of the previous year. “The trend of increasing complaints continues,” said the network agency. The Post speaks of “local problems” and justifies them with a high Covid sickness rate and a tight labor market.
The complaint option relates to all German parcel and letter service providers. This year, most of the requests to speak are about deficiencies in letter delivery at Deutsche Post. The market leader transports around 1.2 billion letters in Germany every month – so the proportion of complaints is minimal. However, the number of unreported cases is likely to be high – many citizens probably swallow their anger, so it is not on record anywhere.
No mail for weeks
Some consumers have also turned to members of the Bundestag, such letters are available to dpa. In it, for example, a Saarlander complains that he has not received any mail for weeks – and this at a time when he is dependent on the mail due to a death in the family and is expecting invoices, letters from the authorities, bank letters and briefs on inheritance matters. “It sounds harmless when I say I haven’t had any mail for three weeks – but it’s not.”
In an anonymous statement, in which the author describes himself as “Employee Post”, it is said that Corona is an excuse. In fact, according to the critic, the deployment of personnel had been planned far too tightly for cost reasons. The Post rejects the accusation that Corona is not a valid reason. In July 2021 there were 100 Covid failures and in August 6800 – the consequences of the pandemic are hard for the company.
In response to the October number of complaints, a Post spokesman said the increase came “not surprising given the nationwide reporting in recent weeks.” There has already been a connection in the past with the increase in the number of complaints and media reports. “The many press reports have ensured that the level of awareness of the Federal Network Agency as a complaints authority has increased once again.” In other words, people who have had problems in the past are only now contacting Bonn because they didn’t know about the possibility of making a complaint beforehand.
No widespread problem?
According to its own statement, Swiss Post continues to meet its legal obligations to deliver at least 80 percent of letters on the next working day on average nationwide and at least 95 percent on the day after that. According to the group, there can be no talk of a widespread problem. That may be true, but such a national average is of little help to people who live in an affected postal district – they are simply unlucky. According to Post, there are impairments in 100 of the 5,000 delivery districts, where up to 30 percent of the staff is missing. This is the case, for example, in Berlin, in southern Germany and in general in metropolitan areas.
And how does it continue? The logistician emphasizes that he is upgrading his staff and taking operational countermeasures. In the past few weeks, 3,000 new mail carriers have been hired. Around 200,000 people work for Swiss Post in the German letter and parcel sector.
In the past week, the situation “relaxed further,” says the company spokesman. However, there had already been a signal of improvement from the post office in mid-September – at that time the company had announced that the operational situation was “currently stable again”. In the same month and the following October, the number of complaints about missing or late letters rose sharply.
How about the Christmas mail?
“It’s getting worse and worse,” says FDP member of the Bundestag Reinhard Houben. “Maybe we have to send the Christmas greetings very early this year.” He calls on the Post to take decisive action to defuse the problem.
Although the network agency is a point of contact for criticism, it cannot do much. In the event of a local accumulation of complaints, she initiates so-called occasional checks, which are a kind of written warning. So far in 2022 there have been 62 such tests, and 16 in 2021 as a whole.
The head of the network agency, Klaus Müller, recently called for his authority to be given sanctions and thereby increase the pressure on Swiss Post. This could be regulated in the forthcoming postal law reform.
Would fines help?
The liberal Houben and the CSU member of the Bundestag Hansjörg Durz evaluate the initiative of the former Green politician Müller positively. The demand is “absolutely justified,” says the Christian Social. “In the mail sector, the authority currently has only one sharp sanction instrument: it can revoke a service provider’s license to offer postal services in Germany.” A graduated sanctions regime with fines does not exist – “and that is outdated,” says the opposition politician. “We need fines in the postal sector as quickly as possible, which will hit the companies hard in cases of doubt.”
The Post, in turn, argues that sanctions would not help in such “challenging situations”.
The letter quarrels come at the wrong time for the post office. On the one hand, because the upcoming Christmas business will put even more strain on the network for parcels and letters than it already is. On the other hand, because federal politicians are gradually starting to amend the completely outdated postal law. The former state monopolist is hoping for rules that could weaken the previous obligations as a universal service provider and make business easier. Now, however, calls are being made to tighten the reins on the post office. “Instead of making itself pretty, the Post is now in a pretty bad light,” sums up the FDP MP Houben.
