Mail consolidation services for letters – Bundeskartellamt initiates proceeding against Deutsche Post InHaus Services, Postcon and Compador

The Bundeskartellamt has today initiated an administrative proceeding against Deutsche Post InHaus Services GmbH (DPIHS), a subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG (DPAG), and against Postcon Konsolidierungs GmbH and Compador Dienstleistungs GmbH. It will examine whether the agreements the companies have in place regarding the provision of so-called mail consolidation services, which are provided for business customers and which the companies offer in competition with one another, are anti-competitive.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Mail consolidation is a business model that provides the most decisive competitive stimulus in the business customer segment of the German letter mail market in view of Deutsche Post AG’s dominance. Through its subsidiary Deutsche Post InHaus Services, Deutsche Post has a strong presence in this market, too. We will examine whether the existing agreements Deutsche Post InHaus Service has in place with its direct competitors restrict competition.”

Providers of mail consolidation services offer business customers to collect and sort their letters and transport it to Deutsche Post mail centres. In the course of this process, the mail volumes of several customers are consolidated so that higher bulk discounts can be obtained on the postage payable by business customers. To provide such competitive services on a market that continues to be dominated by the companies belonging to DPAG, mail consolidation companies use the regulated access to DPAG’s delivery network. DPAG established DPIHS to counter competition on this market by providing its own mail consolidation services, which has gained DPAG significant market shares. Postcon Konsolidierungs GmbH and Compador Dienstleistungs GmbH, which belong to the same corporate group, are two of the largest competitors in the market.