Post sends more packages in Turkey than in Austria
Austrian Post looks back on the first nine months of this year with satisfaction. As expected, the parcel business went very well, with the post office subsidiary Aras Kargo in Turkey, where more parcels are now sent than on the home market of the parent company. In Austria that has now overtaken the parcel volume.
At the same time, the competition in this country is increasing, the US parcel giant Amazon has now conquered five percent of the overall market, and the trend is rising. For this year’s Christmas business, the state-owned postal group no longer expects the dynamics of the previous year, with electrical goods the supply chain problems would already be noticeable.
The Post itself continues to rely on the massive expansion of the parcel infrastructure. “We have a strong operating cash flow and strong, robust business – but we have also invested heavily,” said Post Manager Georg Pölzl today when presenting the figures for the third quarter of 2021.
Increase in staff
The staff WILL also be increased significantly, among other things, up to 1,500 employees aged 50 and over are to be recruited through a cooperation with the AMS in the field of the long-term unemployed and unemployed. The “summer mailers” should also be approached more intensively for the Christmas business, including the temporary workers for the summer season. Young deliverers are enticed with a free driver’s license. The situation with truck drivers is very private. Here, very many are still on short-time work, Pölzl appealed to Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) to take action.
Corona as a challenge
Die Post notices special challenges in the corona hotspots of Upper Austria and Salzburg, where there have been increased cases of infection. There was no cluster formation like at the beginning of the pandemic in distribution centers. Swiss Post is striving to bring the few temporary workers and the partially outsourced delivery logistics more in-house.
Criticism of the Chamber of Labor (AK) that migrant workers are exploited by temporary employment agencies that work on behalf of the Post, Pölzl visibly rejected today emotionally. The post had not been contacted by the AK in this regard, he defended himself against this “unfounded campaigning”. Pölzl spoke of “attempts at profiling that are not worthy of the Chamber of Labor”.
Pölzl also found clear words today when asked whether he was in favor of a corona vaccination. “Yes”, a start should be made in the critical areas. As of October, around 80 percent of the workforce at Swiss Post had been vaccinated across the group, and well over 90 percent at headquarters. Swiss Post is actively promoting the 3rd stitch and is also using its own vaccination bus.
Operating profit increased
The occasion of today’s press conference of the listed postal company was the business figures from January to September – here earnings and sales increased sharply after the first Corona year. The operating result (EBIT) rose by 76.9 percent year-on-year to EUR 144.0 million, while sales rose by 22.2 percent to EUR 1.83 billion. For this year as a whole, an EBIT increase of 25 percent and an increase in sales of 15 percent are expected.