BONN (dpa-AFX) - The anger about the postal service has reached the next high. In October, the Federal Network Agency received more complaints than in any previous month, and in 2022 there were more critical submissions than ever before in one year. As the Bonn-based supervisory authority announced on Sunday in response to a request, it received around 43,500 complaints last year, almost three times as many as in 2021 - when there were 15,118. This significantly exceeded the previous annual high for the statistics, which began ten years ago: in 2020, 18,867 complaints were counted.

The complaints are directed against the entire German mail and parcel industry, but most of the word reports about delayed or lost shipments relate to the market leader Deutsche Post. According to older agency data, Deutsche Post accounted for 91 percent of the negative experiences consumers described to the Federal Network Agency.

Deutsche Post spoke of local problems, which it attributed to a high level of sick leave and a generally difficult search for workers. A company spokesman said that in the coming year it would "do everything in its power to further improve quality in delivery despite the continuing challenging circumstances." He referred to the recently started collective bargaining negotiations and the threat of warning strikes.

In the collective bargaining talks, Verdi is demanding a wage increase of 15 percent, which the Post considers unrealistic. It is quite possible that the employee representatives will soon want to increase the pressure. There has already been a first small warning strike by the DPVKOM trade union in Magdeburg, and further work stoppages on a larger scale could follow in the next few weeks. If so, the arrival of many shipments would probably be significantly delayed, which is likely to intensify the already existing resentment of consumers.

The problems at the Post began in the summer - at that time, a high number of Corona sick calls meant that in some places there were too few delivery staff on standby to deliver letters and parcels. Critics accused the Post of having cut staffing levels to the bone and now getting the bill. Pascal Meiser, a member of the Bundestag for the Left Party, spoke of a "massive pressure on profits that has now become a burden on Deutsche Post and as a result of which savings have repeatedly been made in personnel". This personnel policy must finally come to an end, says Meiser.

The Group initiated emergency measures: To regain control of the situation, the flow of mail was deliberately slowed down in some delivery districts, and letters were only delivered there every other day. At the beginning of November, management acknowledged mistakes. However, the delivery problems had eased somewhat in the meantime and "the key operating figures are clearly developing in a positive direction," the Post management said at the time.

In fact, one can conclude from the monthly figures that the worst is over. In July, 3098 complaints were received by the Federal Network Agency, in August 3473, in September 4994, in October 9436, in November 7000 and in December 6900 - the last two monthly figures are approximate because the evaluation has not yet been completed. The slight decrease from November to December is remarkable, because the shipment volumes in the last month of the year are much higher than usual because of the Christmas business. The fact that complaints have not increased despite this can be taken as evidence of a gradual easing of delivery problems.

Compared with the more than one billion letters and parcels that are delivered in Germany every month, the number of complaints only accounts for a negligible proportion. However, many people who are annoyed because of delayed, lost or incorrectly posted items probably do not even contact the network agency - either because they are still unaware of the complaints option or because it is too much of a hassle for them.

Last year, the Federal Network Agency initiated 86 cause-related investigations due to an increase in complaints. The year before, there had only been 17. Such checks - whether in Bochum, Kamp-Lintfort, Eschweiler (all in North Rhine-Westphalia), Gottmadingen (Baden-Württemberg), Schwaig (Bavaria) or Bernau near Berlin - are written warnings to which the postal service must respond. According to the website of the Federal Network Agency, the delivery situation has largely or increasingly stabilized in most of the problem districts where checks were carried out and Deutsche Post deployed additional staff, for example.

According to Deutsche Post, part of the increase in complaints can be explained by the intensive media coverage of the problems: "Yesterday's ignorant citizens are now contacting the network agency after reading the newspapers and reporting their own problems, which would never have been recorded without the media coverage.

The delivery problems have come at the worst possible time for Deutsche Post. After all, federal politicians are now finally getting around to reforming the completely outdated Postal Act. In view of the high volume of complaints, Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency, is calling for the amendment to include the possibility of sanctions to increase the pressure on Deutsche Post.

More and more voices are coming out of the Bundestag in favor of such a means of exerting pressure and want to make it possible in the upcoming legislative reform. "The wave of complaints makes it clear that friendly approaches at the post office do not help," said FDP member of parliament Reinhard Houben. "A sanction option is becoming increasingly urgent."/wdw/DP/nas