Deutsche Post
Encyclopedia
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
group. With its headquarters in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, the corporation has 467,088 employees (FTE 421,270) in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide and generated revenue of € 51.48 billion in 2010. Deutsche Post is the successor to the German mail authority Deutsche Bundespost
Deutsche Bundespost
The Deutsche Bundespost was created in 1947 as a successor to the Reichspost . Between 1947 and 1950 the enterprise was called Deutsche Post...
, which was privatized in 1995. Currently, 30.5% of its shares are held by the state-owned KfW
KFW
KFW may refer to:*Keith Fullerton Whitman , an American musician*KfW or Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, a German public-sector financial institution...
bank, 69.5% are freely floating; 62.0% of which are held by institutional
Institutional investor
Institutional investors are organizations which pool large sums of money and invest those sums in securities, real property and other investment assets...
and 7.5% by private investors. Since its privatization, Deutsche Post has significantly expanded its business area through acquisitions. Deutsche Post is listed in the DAX
DAX
The DAX is a blue chip stock market index consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Prices are taken from the electronic Xetra trading system...
stock market index.
The Mail division inherits most of the traditional mail services formerly offered by the state-owned monopoly, for which it uses the Deutsche Post
Deutsche Post (brand)
Deutsche Post is a brand of Deutsche Post AG used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly, Deutsche Bundespost...
brand. Its exclusive right to deliver letters
Letter monopoly
The Letter monopoly was enshrined in the German Postgesetz law, and until the end of 2005 it granted an exclusive license to the German post office, Deutsche Post, for the transport of letters and catalog deliveries of up to 100 grams. For the period 2005—2007 this limit was reduced to 50 grams...
under 50 grams in Germany expired on 1 January 2008, following the implementation of European legislation. A number of companies are vying to challenge Deutsche Post's near monopolistic hold on letter deliveries, including Luxembourg-based PIN Group
PIN Group
The PIN Group is a German courier and postal services company with around 9000 employees. It belongs to PIN Group S.A., a Luxembourg-based corporate affiliation made up of several German postal companies.-History and shareholding:...
and Dutch-owned TNT Post
TNT N.V.
TNT N.V., more commonly known as TNT, is an international express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, TNT operates the national postal service under the name TNT Post. The group also offers postal services in eight other European...
. In 2002, Deutsche Post was granted a license to deliver mail in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, breaking Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
's long-standing monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
.
As of January 2008, the Mail division is subdivided into the following business units:
- Mail Communication handles domestic mail service as well as international mail from Germany
- Press Services handles domestic distribution of print products (newspapers and magazines).
- Retail Outlets operates domestic retail outlets (post officePost officeA post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
s), which offer a complete array of letter mail, parcel and Postbank services. - Dialogue Marketing provides services for direct marketingDirect marketingDirect marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
such as market research and address verification.
- Parcel Germany handles the domestic, non-express parcel service, including the PackstationPackstationPackstation is a service run by DHL Parcel Germany, a business unit of Deutsche Post's Mail division, in Germany. It provides automated booths for self-service collection of parcels and oversize letters as well as self-service dispatch of parcels 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Packstation...
network. It was changed over to the DHLDHLDHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
umbrella brand when it was temporarily assigned to the Express division. - Global Mail handles international mail and domestic mail in other countries under the DHLDHLDHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
umbrella brand.
Deutsche Post offers a service called a Garagenvertrag (literally "garage agreement" in English) to its German customers. The postman can leave packets and parcels in a specified place (such as the garage, or a neighbour's house) if the addressee is not at home to receive them. This on the one hand saves the recipient a trip to the post office to pick up their mail. On the other hand, any item left at the specified place is regarded as “delivered” and hence not covered by Deutsche Post's insurance anymore.
Beginning in the early 1990s, Deutsche Post started an e-mail service called ePost. Today, a verified e-mail hosting service is run under this brand which allows customers to send and receive messages with digital signatures according to the De-Mail
De-Mail
De-Mail is a German E-Government communications service that makes it possible to exchange legal electronic documents between citizens, agencies, and businesses over the Internet...
law. Beside, Deutsche Post offers a broad variety of new media services related to their core mail business, including a service for printing stamps from the PC and SMS franking (Internetmarke).
Express
The Express division transports courier, express and parcel shipments all over the world, combining air and ground transport, under the DHL brand.It is divided into business units along regions:
- EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
- Asia PacificAsia-PacificAsia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
- AmericasAmericasThe Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
- Europe, the Middle East and AfricaEurope, the Middle East and AfricaEurope, the Middle East and Africa, usually abbreviated to EMEA, is a regional designation used for government, marketing and business purposes...
Forwarding/Freight
The Forwarding/Freight division carries goods by rail, road, air and sea under the DHL brand.It consists of two main business units:
- DHL Global Forwarding handles global air and ocean freight.
- DHL FreightDHL FreightDHL Freight is a world class [Division |division]] of Deutsche Post DHL providing road and rail freight services across Europe, parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States , North Africa and the Middle East. Together with DHL Global Forwarding , it forms Deutsche Post's Freight/Forwarding...
runs a groundbased freight network covering Europe, Russia and traffic into the Middle East.
Supply Chain/CIS
The Supply Chain/Corporate Information Solutions provides contract logistics and corporate information solutions tailor-made for customers.It consists of two main business units:
- DHL Supply Chain provides warehousing and warehouse transport services as well as value-added solutions along the entire supply chain for customers from a wide variety of sectors.
- Corporate Information Solutions handles documents (collection, digitalisation, printing, storage, archival) of all types.
Financial Services
The financial services division operates through its Deutsche PostbankDeutsche Postbank
Deutsche Postbank AG is a German retail bank with headquarters in Bonn. Postbank was formed from the demerger of the postal savings division of Deutsche Bundespost in 1990. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Post in 1999, and was partially spun out on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2004...
subsidiary, a retail bank network in Germany, which has approximately 14.5 million customers.
Brands
- Deutsche Post: Deutsche Post offers domestic mail services under its traditional name.
- DHL: The DHL brand is used as an umbrella brand for all logistics and parcel services.
- Postbank: The Postbank brand is used by the Financial Services division, which consists primarily of Deutsche Postbank GroupDeutsche PostbankDeutsche Postbank AG is a German retail bank with headquarters in Bonn. Postbank was formed from the demerger of the postal savings division of Deutsche Bundespost in 1990. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Post in 1999, and was partially spun out on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2004...
. - Power Packaging: North America's leading supplier of food and beverage contract manufacturing and packaging services to major consumer goods companies. Power Packaging has a long history of managing multiple customer facilities and dedicated facilities within the industry and has proven to be a diverse and innovative growth catalyst to the packaging industry.
Mergers and acquisitions
In 1998, Deutsche Post World Net began to acquire shares in DHLDHL
DHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
, finally reached majority ownership in 2001, and completed the purchase in 2002. Deutsche Post acquired Airborne Express
Airborne Express
Airborne Express was an express delivery company and cargo airline. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, its hub was at Wilmington, Ohio.Airborne was founded as the Airborne Flower Traffic Association of California in 1946 to fly flowers from the state of Hawaii to US Mainland.Airborne Express...
in August 2003 and integrated it into DHL
DHL
DHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
, which is now known as DHL Express
DHL Express
DHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services. DHL is a world market leader in sea and air mail....
. On 20 September 2005 the company announced that British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
logistics company Exel
Exel
DHL Supply Chain is a division of Deutsche Post providing contract logistics and value-added services.- History :On 14 December 2005 Deutsche Post announced the completion of the acquisition of Exel plc, becoming the global No. 1 in air freight, ocean freight and contract logistics...
had agreed on a £3.7 billion (€5.5 billion) takeover. The combined revenue of the two companies was €50 billion over 2004. In 2006 DHL GlobalMail UK merged with Mercury International.