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Many German citizens associate childhood and youth memories with postage.

The carefully maintained album with the colorful brands used to be the pride of many teenagers.

For companies, however, postage stamps are often an annoying cost factor.

Of the 55 million letters delivered every working day, 87 percent are business mail, so 80 cents for standard letters hit the office.

Even if a private household only spends an average of EUR 2.34 per month on postage, insurance and energy suppliers spend millions of euros on franking each year.

For years, Deutsche Post's competitors have been taking legal action against the allegedly high German postage.

But now these efforts have failed again.

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The new postal law stipulates a rule that gives the postal service ample leeway in terms of prices.

And the next increase is just around the corner: at the end of the year the current stipulation expires, an increase from 2022 is considered likely.

There is only competition in parcel delivery

In comparison with other European countries, Germany is in the middle with 80 cents.

Front runner Denmark is almost five times as expensive.

And in those large EU countries in which letter delivery is still in the hands of the state, the prices are also significantly higher.

Source: WORLD infographic

In Italy a standard letter costs 2.80 euros and in France it costs 1.28 euros.

The same Poste Italiane and La Poste, unlike their German rivals, have received billions in government aid in recent years - among other things to compensate for nationwide delivery.

The British Royal Mail and Belgian Bpost are also supported by the state.

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However, there is only real competition in the postal market in Germany in parcel delivery.

A quarter of a century after privatization, mailing of letters is still 85 percent dominated by Deutsche Post.

Source: WORLD infographic

Only in individual regions of the country are the mostly medium-sized mail carriers able to hold onto the market.

The situation is different for parcels: According to a market study recently presented by Pitney Bowes, only every second parcel was delivered by the Post subsidiary DHL in 2019.

The US company Pitney Bowes is the world's largest producer of franking machines.

This is followed in the ranking of deliverers, measured by market share, the Otto subsidiary Hermes, UPS and the La Poste company DPD.

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However, one name does not appear in the list: Amazon is no longer just a major customer of parcel services, but has long since developed into a major competitor.

The online department store delivers around half of the shipments itself.

Source: WORLD infographic

Although the Amazon lettering can be found on parcel trolleys from time to time, the online retailer does not have its own delivery company.

Rather, Amazon uses tens of thousands of drivers from independent courier companies.

What is certain is that the mountains of parcels will continue to grow.

During the pandemic, deliverers benefited from the booming online trade and delivered almost four billion parcels to your doorstep last year - an increase of ten percent.

Source: WORLD infographic

Pitney Bowes has calculated that growth will remain high for the next five years, with an average of at least six percent annually.

This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.

We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.

Source: Welt am Sonntag