According to its own statements, DPD Germany generated sales of 2.4 billion euros last year.
(Photo: dpa)
Aschaffenburg In view of the high inflation and the impending recession, the parcel service DPD expects business to decline in Germany this year. The shipment volume will be significantly lower than in 2021, the minus will probably be in the high single-digit percentage, said the head of DPD Germany, Eric Malitzke, the German Press Agency. In 2021, DPD transported around 450 million shipments in Germany.
“People are insecure and, when in doubt, prefer not to spend on things that are not part of their daily needs, such as electronics or textiles.” As a result, retailers and manufacturers sent fewer goods to shops and households. “It will be a very challenging year for us,” says the CEO.
DPD is one of the larger competitors of the market leader Deutsche Post DHL, other competitors are Hermes, GLS and UPS. Like the entire industry, the company, whose European holding DPD Group belongs to French Post, experienced a boom in Corona times, and parcel volumes rose sharply. This was also due to the fact that people went shopping in the city center less often due to corona restrictions.
“These were also exceptional economic times for us, which are now over,” says Malitzke. Because of high energy costs and because of the Ukraine war, people are now very worried. “The consumer climate is worse than when the corona pandemic broke out, and we are feeling the effects too.”
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According to its own statements, DPD Germany generated sales of 2.4 billion euros last year. Due to inflation-related price adjustments, this value will only fall slightly in 2022, says the manager. “We have already increased the prices and will not be able to avoid adjusting them again next year, despite all our efforts: It is unavoidable that we pass on part of the cost increases for energy, fuel, wages and salaries.”
In the longer term, Malitzke expects business to pick up again. “We are in a growth industry that has a great future.” It is necessary to advance sustainability. As an example of this, the manager named parcel transport by rail, which DPD started this year for a small proportion of its shipments and intends to expand in the future.
DPD: During the Christmas season, around 1,000 deliverers are added as seasonal workers
The most important part of the year for parcel companies is traditionally the Christmas season, when consumers shop for promotions such as Black Friday or with a view to Christmas Eve and the number of parcels increases sharply. In 2021, DPD Germany delivered 2.4 million parcels on December 6th, more than on any other day of the year. In the Christmas season 2022, Malitzke now expects around two million packages to be the daily high for his company.
DPD says it has around 9,500 permanent employees in administration and in the parcel centers in Germany, as well as 900 “system partners” – i.e. subcontractors who work on behalf of DPD and whose drivers deliver parcels. The company, whose German headquarters are in Aschaffenburg, has a total of 13,000 delivery staff, only a small number of whom are permanent employees. This part should rise to more than 10 percent of the DPD deliverers next year. During the Christmas season, around 1,000 deliverers are added as seasonal workers.
The abbreviation DPD originally stood for German parcel service. After the entry of the French Post, the meaning of the abbreviation was changed to “Dynamic Parcel Distribution”.
More: Deutsche Post suffers an unexpectedly sharp slump in online retail