BONN (dpa-AFX) - Significantly more citizens complained about Deutsche Post in the first half of 2024 than before due to delayed or lost letters and parcels. The Federal Network Agency told the news agency dpa that 20,184 postal complaints were received, a quarter more than in the same period last year.

Roughly two thirds were about letters and one third about parcels. 88 percent of the critical comments were directed against the market leader DHL and its mail division Deutsche Post, the rest related to competitors. If the level of complaints remains as high in the second half of the year, by the end of 2024 the Bonn-based supervisory authority would have received more complaints than ever before in a single year.

Fines soon possible

The Federal Network Agency can do little here so far - ultimately, it can only raise its finger in warning and call on the yellow giant to improve. However, as part of the reform of the Postal Act, the agency will soon have a sharper sword at its disposal and could then impose fines and penalties and thus increase the pressure on the Bonn-based logistics company.

However, the reform in question also provides for less time pressure on the postal service when requesting letters. Previously, 80 percent of letters posted today had to be delivered on the next working day; in future, the first mandatory value will only apply on the third working day after posting - 95 percent must then be delivered. This means that consumers will have to be a little more patient than before.

Few complaints compared to mail volume

The number of complaints increased significantly in the second half of 2022, when Swiss Post was struggling with staff shortages in some places. The Group then took measures to get the problem under control. However, if you take the number of complaints as a benchmark, this was not a decisive success.

However, the proportion of complaints in relation to the total volume

- total of 15 billion parcels and letters at DHL alone in

2023 - is negligible.

The fact that the complaints channel has become better known over the years probably also plays a role - the higher figures are therefore possibly at least partly due to the fact that some people did not contact the Federal Network Agency in the past because they did not know about the complaints channel.

Reaction from DHL

In response to the half-year figures, a DHL spokesperson says that the statistics are not representative from the company's point of view. "Many of the complaints that are attributed to us have nothing to do with Deutsche Post's performance."

Many delays are due, for example, to the fact that letters from business customers that our competitors have fed into the postal network have only been handed over to Deutsche Post after a considerable delay. "Nevertheless, every complaint is one too many and we regret when customers are not satisfied with our service."

Consumers can not only contact the network agency, but also DHL directly. The company spokesperson reports that his company received more complaints in May and June than before. At times, there had been an unexpectedly high number of parcel deliveries and the volume of letters had been high due to the European elections, which had led to delays. In some places, a large number of employees were also ill, which also slowed down processes at times./wdw/DP/he