BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Magazine publishers are demanding more reliable delivery of their magazines from Deutsche Post. The federal managing director of the Media Association of the Free Press (MVFP), Stephan Scherzer, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "More than 90 percent of the magazines' subscription circulation relies on the postal service." He added that the postal service should not shirk its responsibility precisely because it has a quasi-monopoly position due to a lack of competition. "The quality in delivery is always a big problem, it must continue to improve and the subscriptions must arrive in households on time."

Scherzer also urged, "We need to continue to have all business days as delivery days." In the spring, he said, the Postal Service, which is currently engaged in a wage dispute with warning strikes, will ring in the next round of price increases. "Price increases like in the past years do not fit into this crisis year - the Post must show moderation as a quasi-monopolist," Scherzer said.

The Post has had to deal with a wave of complaints in recent months. At the Federal Network Agency, more German citizens than ever before gave vent to their anger about lost or delayed shipments. A spokesman for Deutsche Post said on Monday that it had been able to "significantly improve the quality of delivery and reduce the number of complaints". This also applies to the delivery of press products. To this end, the company is in close contact with the publishers. With regard to delivery days, the company has repeatedly stated that it will continue to deliver six days a week.

However, the company spokesman pointed out that Österreichische Post AG was "confronted with sharply rising unit costs, declining volumes and higher personnel and material costs". "What that means for press distribution prices, where we are, after all, regulated, we can't say at this point."

As a universal service provider, the Postal Service must adhere to government requirements. These requirements are to be revised this year in a comprehensive reform of the completely outdated Postal Act. To kick off this reform, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology last week presented a key points paper outlining proposals for the reform. In this paper, the Ministry does not propose changing the current six-day delivery period to just five days - which would result in the elimination of Mondays. It can therefore be assumed that the ministry wants to leave this aspect as it is and will continue to rely on six-day delivery in the future.

The magazine publishers are also insisting on an issue that the red-green-yellow federal government has also taken up in its coalition agreement. It has been under discussion for years, but nothing has happened so far: it's about state subsidies for periodical press. Media houses are to be enabled to pursue their digital transformation in view of the rising costs of delivery in the face of declining circulations. A decision has not yet been made.

Scherzer said, "The facts for non-discriminatory support of magazines and newspapers are known to everyone, so the federal government must and can now make a decision quickly - as stipulated in the coalition agreement."

The association's managing director added: "The digital transformation, which requires high levels of investment, has been handled by the publishers themselves for years. The extreme cost increases, which the publishers cannot influence at all, make the funding necessary: High paper prices, high postal costs, high energy prices that impact logistics and printing costs."

Looking ahead to the current fiscal year, Scherzer did not give a forecast. At the same time, he said, "The industry is not as pessimistic about the current year as it was in the summer of 2022, also because the digital business models are taking hold: key words paid content, podcasts, short video formats, and especially the high-quality content and services of the trade media are urgently needed."

Asked whether more magazine titles will have to be discontinued, the manager said, "So far, we don't see a trend of more magazine titles being discontinued than in recent years." He added that this also shows that digital transformation is well underway, making the industry more resilient. But the risk of further hiring is increasing, he said, due to the burdens of price increases for paper, energy, printing and mail. "I therefore don't want to rule out the possibility of further hiring or selling this year."/rin/DP/ngu