"Too little appreciation" of parcel delivery services, says CEO of DPD

DPD in Germany recently announced its prices will rise by an average of 3.5% for business customers at the beginning of the new year. Similar to most businesses, carriers tend to report price increases in a way they hope might go unnoticed: quietly, apologetically and with an explanation of why exactly the price is going up. But although DPD has named wage and freight costs as the reason for the increase, they have not done so in a manner that anyone would describe as apologetic!

DPD CEO Arnold Schroven says there
is insufficient appreciation of parcel
delivery services.

Upon announcing the change, DPD CEO Arnold Schroven remarked that "the entire industry has a shared interest in counteracting the "something for nothing" mentality in parcel shipping" claiming that "there is often too little appreciation of the services we provide."

 DPD has expanded rapidly and introduced a variety of new services over the last decade including same-day delivery in Germany and specialised delivery options for both business and private customers.

In a statement about the price increase, the carrier claimed that stagnating prices in shipping had been accompanied by continually rising costs, and that it was time for the customers to absorb some of these prices as well as the carriers: "If there is an increase in road tolls these additional costs will have to be passed on to our customers too," said Shroven.

It's likely that most industries would claim their expertise and services are unappreciated, and many carriers will be supportive of Shroven's statements, but his comments could also be seen as quite insensitive. It's true that expectations of parcel delivery are high, and rightly so, but is it also true that we don't recognise the important work that carriers do? In our experience, most people  appreciate the services of major carriers such as DPD, DHL, UPS and FedEx, but find that booking with them directly is too expensive as it is. That's why they book through a reseller such as Transglobal Express. You can beat the price increases by booking through us, and utilising the services and impressive networks of major carriers at a much lower price. Click here to get a quote and compare discounted prices today. And why not let us know what you think by commenting below? Is Shroven right to say that the customer is sometimes wrong? Or should DPD be helping business customers by continuing to absorb the increased freight costs?