1,400 jobs will be lost
Parcel service DPD puts the red pencil on
December 7, 2023, 2:52 p.m
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The parcel service provider DPD is also suffering from cost increases and changing consumer behavior. The group now wants to become competitive again with a savings program. This also includes deleting about every seventh position.
Due to poor business, the parcel service provider DPD Germany is drawing red pencil. The company announced in Aschaffenburg that up to 1,400 of the current 9,600 jobs would be eliminated within two years. The aim is to strengthen competitiveness and regain long-term performance. The measures are a response to difficult market conditions, inflation-related cost increases and changing customer behavior.
According to the company, the job cuts should be carried out “as socially acceptable as possible”. We are aware of our responsibility, said company boss Björn Scheel. “With the upcoming transformation, we are making DPD Germany fit and agile for the next few years.” The parcel industry boomed in the Corona years, with DPD’s transport volume increasing by seven percent in 2021. However, after the end of the pandemic, demand weakened.
DPD was also affected by this: in 2022, the number of parcels transported in Germany fell by 8.8 percent to 412 million. Market leader DHL had to accept a decline in shipment volumes of 8.3 percent to 1.7 billion. The Bonn-based group got back on track this year: in the third quarter of 2023, the package increase was 5.1 percent. DPD does not communicate current business figures. Behind DHL, DPD is one of the larger parcel service providers in Germany, other competitors include Hermes, GLS and UPS.
DPD is a subsidiary of the French company Geopost, which in turn belongs to the French Post Office (La Poste). In addition to the permanent employees who work in the Aschaffenburg German headquarters, in the 79 depots nationwide and other locations, the company has 11,500 delivery staff, most of whom are self-employed. The abbreviation DPD originally stood for German parcel service. After the entry of the French Post Office, the meaning of the abbreviation was changed to “Dynamic Parcel Distribution”.