- Last price increase was 14 years ago
- Adjusted for inflation, 17 percent price decrease in ten years
Bonn, 04/20/2011, 11:00 AM CEST
The new edition of the European letter price survey for 2011 analyzed the prices for standard letters in 29 countries.
Deutsche Post mail customers still enjoy inexpensive prices for standard letters compared to their European neighbors. This is revealed by the new edition of the European letter price survey for 2011, which analyzed the prices for standard letters in 29 countries.
In a purely nominal comparison, at 55 Euro cents, the price for sending a standard letter in Germany exactly matches the European average. If the macroeconomic factors of labor costs and purchasing power are also taken into account, the postage rate for a domestic letter in Germany even rises to seventh place in the affordability rankings.
In order to obtain a meaningful and objective comparison, the study, among other things, also examines prices when adjusted for inflation. The background is that a nominally unchanged price decreases each year in real terms by the rate of inflation.
New edition of the survey
The upshot of this comparison is that nowhere in Europe except for Italy and Estonia did the actual price for sending a standard letter sink as much as in Germany. When factoring in inflation from 2000 to 2010, the price reduction amounts to just under 17 percent. In the countries under review, however, the price for a normal standard letter actually increased by more than half (by an average of 51 percent) during the same period.
In a purely nominal comparison, at 75 Euro cents, the price Deutsche Post charges for sending a letter from Germany to other European countries (the Europabrief) ranks well below the European average of 86 Euro cents.
The last price increase for a standard letter in Germany occurred 14 years ago. In 2003, the price was reduced to 55 Euro cents, which is still in effect today.
