Deutsche Post reveals “inexpensive” pricing
New research by Deutsche Post states that customers in Germany still receive low-cost prices for mailing items. The company said that mailers “still enjoy inexpensive prices for standard letters compared to their European neighbours”.
This was revealed by the new edition of the European letter price survey for 2011, which analysed the prices for standard letters in 29 countries.
“In a purely nominal comparison, at EUR 55 cents, the price for sending a standard letter in Germany exactly matches the European average. If the macroeconomic factors of labour costs and purchasing power are also taken into account, the postage rate for a domestic letter in Germany even rises to seventh place in the affordability rankings,” said Deutsche Post.
In order to obtain a “meaningful and objective comparison”, the study also examined prices when adjusted for inflation. The background is that a nominally unchanged price decreases each year in real terms by the rate of inflation.
The upshot of this comparison is that nowhere in Europe except for Italy and Estonia did the actual price for sending a standard letter sink as much as in Germany.
When factoring in inflation from 2000 to 2010, the price reduction amounts to just under 17%. In the countries under review, however, the price for a normal standard letter actually increased by more than half (by an average of 51%) during the same period, the company confirmed.
The survey also revealed customers in Germany sending mail to other European countries (at EUR 75 cents) benefited from prices below the European average (EUR 86 cents).
The last price increase for a standard letter in Germany occurred 14 years ago. In 2003, the price was reduced to 55 Euro cents, which is still in effect today.
