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BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Anyone waiting for letters will need more patience in the coming year than before. After the Bundestag, the Bundesrat has now also voted in favor of reforming the outdated Postal Act, which was last fundamentally amended in 1997. Back then, it was often even more important than it is today for letters to arrive particularly quickly. For decades, it was therefore stipulated that 80 percent of items posted today should reach the recipient on the next working day and 95 percent on the working day after next.

In the meantime, everyday communication has changed completely. People rely on emails and chats instead of letters. Because the vast majority of letters are no longer an urgent matter, the time pressure has been reduced: the 80 percent delivery value for the first working day after posting has been dropped and the 95 percent value has been moved from the second to the third working day. The obligation to have 99 percent of the letter volume posted today delivered four working days later is new.

Because the time pressure is reduced, the Bonn-based company can cut its costs. It has already stopped sending letters by air within Germany due to the legal reform, thereby saving money and improving its carbon footprint.

Mail delivery will not slow down "abruptly"

So is there a threat of a long wait for consumers as early as January? No, says Swiss Post CEO Tobias Meyer. The delivery time of letters - i.e. the time it takes for them to reach the recipient - will not change "abruptly" at the beginning of 2025, but there will be a gradual transition. The transition will take one to two years. This means that letters will still be delivered quite quickly in some regions in 2026.

Meyer emphasized that these are minimum targets and that the actual figure could be higher. "It's no use sitting around on a pile of letters and waiting until the time is up." Because there are fewer letters in the digital age, sorting is faster.

Priority letter on the brink

Anyone who is in a hurry when sending letters, even in the digital age, can currently send a so-called priority letter - which is supposed to arrive on the next working day and costs a surcharge of 1.10 euros. This shipping method is a niche product. This is also due to the fact that most standard letters are currently requested quite quickly and the time advantage of the priority letter is small. From 2025, this advantage could become greater and demand could increase. However, VAT will have to be paid on this type of consignment from January onwards, whereas previously this was not the case.

This makes it "significantly more expensive", said Meyer, adding that it was therefore necessary to consider whether to continue offering it at all. In future, there could only be registered mail, which offers faster delivery. A registered letter costs 2.35 euros, which is 40 cents more than a standard Prio letter.

Bonn authority gets fine sword

As part of the reform, the role of the Federal Network Agency has been strengthened and in future it will be able to impose fines and thus increase the pressure on the postal service. "The new Postal Act provides the Federal Network Agency with the necessary instruments," said Klaus Müller, head of the agency. "We will use these instruments and continue to ensure a sustainable postal service and fair competition."

Over the past two years, the Bonn-based authority has received an unusually high number of complaints from citizens about Deutsche Post. In the end, the network agency could only raise its index finger in warning and look grimly at the nearby Post Tower - it did not have a sharp sword. This is now changing somewhat.

Number of complaints still quite high

The level of complaints is still high: according to the Network Agency, it received around 17,000 complaints about the postal sector between January and May 2024, which is 4,000 more than in the same period last year. Most of the critical comments related to the market leader Deutsche Post. According to the Post, however, some of the resentment is wrongly directed at them. In fact, it is sometimes due to mistakes made by other companies.

More machines for letters and parcels

The legal reform also allows the installation of vending machines instead of post offices. However, there are strict limits to this - the machines can only be counted towards the branch network requirement, which remains in force, if Swiss Post cannot find a retailer who also has a post office counter in their store. This is likely to be the case in some villages where the last supermarket or kiosk has closed down.

Next postage increase coming at the beginning of 2025

A standard letter currently costs 85 cents, but it will probably be more expensive from January - a new postage rate will apply from 2025. The Network Agency has already started a calculation process to determine the level of postage and will set a margin for adjusting prices. A decision on how high the postage rates will be for the different types of consignments is likely to be made in the fall.

The amendment to the law also has something to do with this, as the authority will refer to the new guidelines in its calculations. However, the Ampel coalition has committed to not charging more than one euro for a standard letter./wdw/DP/jha