Whether damaged parcels, incorrectly posted letters or opening times of post offices that are too short: The work of the postal service providers has again caused trouble this year. Until mid-December 17. 930 Letter of complaint received, announced the Federal Network Agency. In the same period of the previous year it was 17. 167. The increase in critical requests to speak was relatively small at 4 percent. 2018 there had been a doubling, 2019 the increase was 44 Percent.

Often several complaints at the same time Seen in this way, the current number of complaints should be understood almost positively. However, there is one downer. Because many letters of complaint contained not just one reason for criticism, but several. If you add up the negative experiences listed in the letters, they climbed from 20. 738 in the complete year 2019 to 30. 709 this year (up to 15. December). That comes from an answer of the Federal Ministry of Economics to the left-wing member of the Bundestag Pascal Meiser, which the dpa has received.

That means: It was 2020 about as many people complained to the Bonn authority as in the previous year, but their frustration was greater than before. Often they were annoyed not only about a misplaced package, but also in the same letter, for example, about another damaged shipment or a letter that arrived late or accidentally landed with a neighbor. Per letter of complaint in the year 2019 an average of 1.1 bad experiences were listed, 2020 climbed the cut to 1.7. This value has never been so high in the statistics kept since 2014.

They are not very flattering Figures for the parcel service providers, who were significantly more of a cause of discontent than before – their share of the negative experiences listed in the letters of complaint rose from a third to half, the rest is accounted for by letters and branches. In absolute numbers, this is even doubling: 2019 with a view to parcel services, citizens named 7149 negative experiences, which are also referred to as reasons for complaint. 2020 so far this number is 15. 259 and thus more than twice as high as in the previous year.

Much more to be transported Why is the development? It could be related to the fact that the parcel industry has to transport significantly larger quantities under the adverse Corona conditions – in the Christmas business that has been running since November, for example, the companies are expecting an increase in quantities of 15 to 18 percent.

The complaints concern the entire industry, in which Deutsche Post DHL is by far the market leader. Parcel competitors are Hermes, DPD, GLS and UPS. DHL recently estimated its market share to be “good 30 percent”. The share of the group in the package complaint reasons is 2020 according to the network agency 73 percent and thus well above its market share. The former state monopoly is disproportionately represented in the negative statistics.

A DHL spokesman says that the complaints are not representative and therefore “the comparison with the market shares is not appropriate “. The fact that the company’s own share of the grounds for complaint is higher than that of the competition is due, among other things, to the fact that private customers use their own services more. The logic behind it: major corporate customers do not complain to the network agency, but private customers do – and they are much more significant at Deutsche Post DHL than the competition. The DHL spokesman also speaks of measures to improve quality, which the group believes will take effect.

No evidence of poor quality How the numbers are to be understood as a whole is quite controversial. Representatives of the parcel industry emphasize that they are by no means proof of poorer quality of their work. They refer to the increase in parcel volumes and intensive media coverage, which has made the possibility of complaints better known – because more people know about the complaints office, they make use of it, according to the interpretation of the parcel industry.

When interpreting the statistics, the fact should also not be disregarded that the number of around 18. 000 Complaints in relation to the total volume is low; 2019 around three billion parcels and 14 Billions of letters sent. The Federal Network Agency also points this out.

So everything is half as wild? The left-wing member of the Bundestag Meiser shakes his head. The deputy member of the advisory board of the Federal Network Agency assesses the steep rise in the number of reasons for complaint as alarming. He attributes the dissatisfaction with the delivery quality to the “still underground working conditions in many places”. The opposition politician calls on the federal government to act. It is high time “to ensure a ban on dubious work contracts and subcontractor chains in the parcel industry too”. Better working conditions and more money for parcel deliverers “would be a first important step to improve the quality of delivery again,” says Meiser.

(mho)