BONN (dpa-AFX) - While Deutsche Post continues to be busy with warning strikes, federal politicians are calling for a reduction in letter postage in view of the reform of the Postal Act. "If Deutsche Post is granted relief under this reform and it takes longer to send letters, then this must be reflected in the price for consumers: the postage for a standard letter should become cheaper or at least remain constant for a very long time," said Reinhard Houben, economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Politicians from the SPD and the CSU argue similarly. Detached from the reform debate, warning strikes also continue to cause unrest.

The Federal Ministry of Economics recently published a key points paper according to which the obligation to deliver letters as quickly as possible should be softened or even abolished. The paper is a basis for discussion of the upcoming reform of the Postal Act, which was last fundamentally changed in 1999. Until now, the Post Office has had to deliver 80 percent of letters on the next working day. In the view of the ministry, however, such a requirement is no longer in keeping with the times, because speed is no longer so important.

Hansjörg Durz, a CSU member of the Bundestag, sees a change in the time requirement as a "good signal for climate protection". He is referring to the airplanes that still travel around Germany carrying letters for the Post. The Post could do without these planes if it had less time pressure on the mailings.

If the 80 percent obligation were to be overturned, the average waiting time for letters would increase. The Group could then cut costs because it would have less time pressure. Just like that, however, there should not be such a concession to the Post, thinks Christian Socialist Durz. "If you reduce quality, you also have to make sure that the price goes down. Because less service for the same price: that would be a whopping postage increase through the back door."

Part of the reform debate is also the question of whether there should be a kind of two-tier mail system in the future - in other words, more expensive fast letters and cheaper slow letters. Exactly what such a system might look like is still unclear. According to Green Party member of parliament Sandra Detzer, "From our point of view, staggering the postage depending on the delivery period could be part of the considerations."

SPD member of parliament Sebastian Roloff considers a reform of the so-called transit times "conceivable in principle." The various models will be discussed "without any pre-determinations," he says, adding that slower letters "should consequently also be cheaper."

Letter postage is now rising every three years. In 2019, domestic mailing of a standard letter became 10 cents more expensive, to 80 cents; in 2022, postage moved up 5 cents to 85 cents. At the beginning of 2025, the current postage will expire; under current rules, it will probably increase then.

If the ideas in the key issues paper were to be adopted in the legislative process, Swiss Post would still have a certain amount of time pressure in the future - but it would be much weaker than it is now. Currently, 95 percent of letters have to be delivered on the next but one working day. According to the key issues paper, such a requirement should be tightened up, i.e. the percentage value could be increased. However, it is possible that such a requirement would then no longer relate to the day after next, but to the following day - i.e. the third day after the letter is posted.

Experts are skeptical about the demands from politicians. "If postage were to fall, the Post would receive less money and it would be questionable whether the company could ensure the quality of delivery in the long term," says logistics professor Kai-Oliver Schocke of the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. "If the German mail business is made unattractive by the reform, Deutsche Post could lose interest in its domestic business and instead focus on its very profitable international business." Then there would be a threat of job cuts in Germany.

Letters could travel longer in the future without the Post violating any obligations. But if there is a "serious, repeated and persistent" failure to meet the minimum level, it could face fines from the Federal Network Agency - at least that is what is proposed in the key points paper. Members of the Bundestag from various parliamentary groups are in favor of such sanctions. It is overdue that the authority can sanction in case of problems of the post office, says the left Pascal Meiser. "However, this step, which we have long urged, must not be bought in return by a deterioration in the specified letter delivery times or other quality specifications."

Meanwhile, warning strikes at the Post continued on Saturday, with 13,500 employees downing tools at various locations across Germany, according to company sources. Verdi spoke of 18,000 warning strikers. A company spokesman reported a participation of slightly more than a third of the workforce at the affected sites. One in five parcels and one in eleven letters were left lying around - a similar proportion to Friday. In regions where there were work stoppages, however, the absenteeism rate was higher than the national average. The warning strikes affected Freiburg, Mannheim, Bochum, the Bonn area and the Münsterland region, for example.

Verdi is demanding 15 percent more money for the 160,000 or so postal workers in Germany who are covered by collective bargaining agreements; management thinks that is far too much. Collective bargaining is to continue on February 8, when the company plans to present its own offer. It cannot be ruled out that Verdi will once again resort to warning strikes before then to increase the pressure on the employer./wdw/DP/stw