In Brief:

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Media Release - Germany’s Post Office Model

Liberalization Lessons for Canada

 

• The first step in 2000 was to list Deutsche Post as a publicly traded company on Germany’s stock market; liberalization of letter delivery also occurred in stages;

• Liberalization has also led to lower prices for customers through increased competition. In other European countries, only business customers enjoyed lower prices. In Germany, large firms now pay up to 30 per cent less in postage than they did in 2003 and consumers have also seen lower prices since liberalization;

• Between 1998 and 2008, the inflation-adjusted price of mail fell by 16.3% in Germany—the steepest decline among all European countries surveyed and one of only eight countries where prices decreased; in comparison, prices rose in 17 European countries in the same period;

• One of the main objections to liberalizing Germany’s postal market was that working

• Deutsche Post World Net (as it was now called) became internationally active and competitive) and many of these jobs were created internationally as part of its global delivery service.

• Privatize Canada Post, i.e., make it a company that is traded 100 per cent on the TSX. This can be done incrementally;

• Completely liberalize the postal sector by allowing competitors to enter the market for all letter segments;

• Put in place a regulator that will guarantee the universal-service provision at prices similar to customers located in business hubs

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Efficient, Competitive and Better Service (Policy Series)

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The Frontier Centre for Public Policy

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