- The last price increase was 15 years ago
- Adjusted for inflation, 17 percent price decrease in ten years
Bonn, 05/14/2012, 11:00 AM CEST – When factoring in inflation from 2000 to 2011, the price reduction amounts to just under 17 percent.
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 2012, which analyzed the prices for standard letters in 29 countries for the eleventh time. In a purely nominal comparison, at 55 Euro cents, the price for sending a standard letter in Germany is below 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 actually 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. The upshot of this comparison is that nowhere in Europe except for Italy and Cyprus did the actual price for sending a standard letter sink as much as in Germany. When factoring in inflation from 2000 to 2011, the price reduction amounts to just under 17 percent. In the countries under review, the price for a normal standard letter actually increased by an average of 31 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 91 Euro cents.
The last price increase for a standard letter in Germany occurred 15 years ago. In 2003, the price was reduced to 55 Euro cents, which means it has remained stable for ten years.
