German postal service to cut 8,000 jobs

(FILES) An employee of German postal service Deutsche Post rides a bike in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on March 27, 2024. Germany’s postal service, Deutsche Post, said on March 6, 2025 it plans to axe 8,000 jobs amid a decline in the number of letters being sent and after its parent company reported falling profits. The cuts will be made this year “in a socially responsible manner”, logistics giant DHL, which owns the postal service, said in a statement. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

Frankfurt, Germany — Germany’s postal service, Deutsche Post, said Thursday it plans to axe 8,000 jobs amid a decline in the number of letters being sent and after its parent company reported falling profits.

The cuts will be made this year “in a socially responsible manner”, logistics giant DHL, which owns the postal service, said in a statement.

Last year “the number of traditional, document-carrying letters continued to decline,” said DHL in a statement.

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While revenues from parcels increased, this could not “compensate for the declining mail volumes and rising costs”, particularly due to pay agreements struck with unions, it added.

The job cuts are part of a broader drive by DHL to reduce costs by one billion euros ($1.1 billion).

Deutsche Post has about 187,000 employees in Germany, out of a total of some 500,000 staff who work for DHL worldwide.

DHL reported its net profit in 2024 fell 9.3 percent to 3.3 billion euros while revenues increased three percent to 84.2 billion euros.