The largest post company in Germany is looking to roll back a legal requirement that ties it to strict delivery targets. In order to be more climate-friendly, Deutsche Post has argued, it cannot commit to delivering 80 percent of letters the next working day. 

Deutsche Post wants to deliver fewer letters the next working day

Deutsche Post is seeking legal approval to water down its delivery targets, to help it be more environmentally friendly. According to boss Tobias Meyer, these stringent targets are preventing the company from switching from domestic flights to trucks for long-haul shipments. 

The company currently uses three domestic flights each night between Monday and Friday to transport letters across the country. “As long as we are obliged to deliver at least 80 percent of all letters on the next working day, we cannot avoid night flights,” said Meyer. “It is not feasible to cover the long distance from the mailbox to the recipient with trucks or even with freight trains overnight.”  

80 percent of letters must arrive within one working day

As a state-regulated private company, Deutsche Post is bound to specific delivery targets: namely, 80 percent of all Germany-bound letters must be delivered the day after they are put in the post box (also known as the “E + 1 value”). 95 percent must reach their addressee within two working days (“E + 2”). 

Deutsche Post is suggesting that these figures be revised, to enable it to switch to a more climate-friendly mode of transport. Accordingly, the E + 1 value would drop to a target of 50 percent, but the E + 2 target would remain unchanged at 95 percent. With the time pressure less extreme, letters could then easily be transported by truck over long distances. 

Government says too many people still rely on speedy post

The postal company is confident that consumers in Germany would accept their letters arriving a day later if this meant that the whole system was more environmentally friendly. While the new coalition government has said that it wants to develop Germany’s postal system to higher socio-ecological standards, it’s not clear whether they would support the watering down of the E + 1 target. The previous government rejected a similar proposal back in 2019. 

According to Reinhard Houben, an economic policy spokesperson for the FDP, many people in Germany still rely on their letters reaching them as fast as possible, even in the digital age. Houben suggests that Deutsche Post could explore other means for eschewing domestic flights, such as cooperating with Deutsche Bahn to transport long-distance letters on trains.