German Hermes Versand to start operating parcel machines

Hermes Versand, the postal service operator owned by German mail order group Otto, is to set up 10 parcel machines in Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf together with its co-operation partner Siemens, the German technologies group, and will thus intensify its competition with Deutsche Post, Germany’s leading postal service operator and former monopoly.

The 10 machines will be operated as a trial. If it proves successful, Hermes intends to set up further machines across Germany. Customers will be able to pick up and deposit their parcels at the machines. Deutsche Post already tested a similar system with 80 machines last year and is now planning to increase the number of parcel machines to around 650 by the end of 2004. Hermes currently has a market share of 5 per cent for private parcel forwarding services in Germany. Management is hoping to increase the market share to 10 per cent by 2007.