Letters and parcels: Post is suing the network agency’s letter postage decision

Deutsche Post is going to court because, in its opinion, letter postage will not increase enough in the coming year. The Bonn-based company said in response to a dpa request that a lawsuit against a decision by the Federal Network Agency had been filed with the Cologne Administrative Court in a timely manner. The lawsuit does not have a suspensive effect.

In November, the regulatory authority decided in the so-called standard size procedure that sending postal letters in Germany could increase in price by around 10.5 percent from January and sending DHL parcels by 7.2 percent.

That is not enough for the postal group DHL, whose mail business is called Deutsche Post. He would like to have the court clarify which costs can be taken into account in the postage increase and how. As a result, the future price premium – i.e. for the period from 2027 – should be stronger than usual. The post office would then receive more money in its coffers in the future than it would under the current legal interpretation of the Federal Network Agency.

The post office is obliged to collect and deliver letters everywhere in Germany. This is expensive, especially since the volume of letters is decreasing in the Internet age – people are relying more and more on digital communication. To ensure that letters are still a profitable business for the logistics company, the network agency allows them to increase the price every few years. The regulatory authority and the listed corporation have been arguing for a long time about how high this can be. The Cologne court case adds another chapter to the dispute.

The court case has no impact on the new postage, which applies from January. The legal dispute is likely to be a lengthy affair.

Standard letters will soon cost 95 cents

It was also announced that the Federal Network Agency had approved the new postage. In January, sending a standard letter weighing up to 20 grams will increase in price from currently 85 to 95 cents, and other types of letters and parcels will also become more expensive. The compact letter, which weighs up to 50 grams, will then cost 1.10 euros, 10 cents more than before. The postcard will be equated to the standard letter and will then also cost 95 cents to send, which is 25 cents more than before.

A package weighing up to five kilograms currently costs 6.99 euros for domestic shipping with DHL and will in the future cost 7.69 euros – this is the price that a consumer pays to post a package themselves. The price that an online retailer pays to DHL so that a package ordered online reaches the consumer is not the issue – that depends on the individually agreed contractual conditions between DHL and the online retailer.