The delivery of newspapers and magazines is becoming increasingly important for German publishers. Not only do they complain about the cost of delivering the printed press, but also about the unreliable delivery.
Magazine publishers are demanding more reliable delivery of their magazines from Deutsche Post. The federal manager of the Media Association of the Free Press (MVFP), Stephan Scherzer: "More than 90 percent of the subscription circulation of the magazines are dependent on the post." Swiss Post should not evade its responsibility precisely because it has a quasi-monopoly position due to a lack of competition. "The quality of delivery is always a big problem, it needs to improve further and the subscriptions need to reach households on time."
Scherzer also demands: "We still need all working days as delivery days." In the spring, the Post, which is currently in a wage dispute with warning strikes, will herald the next price round. "Price increases like in previous years don't fit into this crisis year - Swiss Post has to be moderate as a quasi-monopoly," said Scherzer.
Swiss Post has had to deal with a wave of complaints in recent months. At the Federal Network Agency, more Germans than ever before have expressed their anger about lost or delayed shipments. A Post spokesman says that the "quality of delivery has been significantly improved and the number of complaints reduced". This also applies to the delivery of press products. We are in close contact with the publishers on this.
With regard to the delivery days, it has been said several times that delivery will continue to be made six days a week. However, the company spokesman pointed out that the postal service was "confronted with sharply rising unit costs with declining volumes and higher personnel and material costs". What that means for the prices for press distribution cannot be said at this point in time.
As a universal service provider, Swiss Post must comply with government regulations. These requirements are to be revised this year in a comprehensive reform of the completely outdated postal law. At the start of this reform, the Federal Ministry of Economics presented a key points paper last week in which proposals for the reform are made. In this paper, the Ministry does not propose changing the previous six-day delivery to just five days - which would result in the elimination of Mondays.
The magazine publishers are also insisting on a topic that the red-green-yellow federal government has also taken up in its coalition agreement. It has been discussed for years, but nothing has happened so far: it is about state funding for periodical press. In view of the rising costs of delivery with falling circulations, media companies should be able to continue pursuing their digital transformation. A decision has not yet been made
