Germany’s postal service has won permission to raise postage costs for postcards and letters by around 10.5% starting early next year, Germany’s Network Agency regulator said on Wednesday.
Deutsche Post had cited higher costs as the reason for seeking the price increases. The postal service is required to deliver mail everywhere in Germany, including remote areas which involve lengthy travel times.
The exact stamp price for each type of letter has not yet been decided, although the German government has urged keeping the cost for a standard letter below €1 ($1.12).
Industry experts said they anticipated that the price of sending a standard letter within Germany could rise from €0.85 to €0.95 ($0.95 to $1.06).
The increase was significantly less than what Deutsche Post had requested. A company spokesman said he was “astonished” by the decision and criticized the move to keep postage rates relatively low.
Deutsche Post is a division of global logistics giant DHL Group, which grew out of the formerly state-owned German postal service. But domestic mail delivery is now only a small – and generally unprofitable – part of the company’s business.
“The result and [underlying] assumptions are difficult to understand in view of expected wage increases, shrinking letter volumes and high investment requirements,” he said.
He said postage for a standard letter in Germany is currently 43% below the EU average: “Deutsche Post will now thoroughly examine the Federal Network Agency’s decision and present its view of the matter to the authority.”
As recently as 2012, the postage for a standard letter was just €0.55.
The most recent postage hike from Deutsche Post came in 2022, when prices were increased by 4.6%. The postal service had also sought permission to raise postage rates in 2023, citing high costs and inflation, but that request was rejected by the Network Agency.
German lawmakers earlier this year eased delivery time requirements for Deutsche Post in a bid to reduce costs for the company and allow it to use fewer domestic cargo flights to transport mail.
Up to now, 80% of letters posted domestically had to arrive on the next working day. From 2025, the rules will require only that 95% of letters arrive by the third working day after being posted.
