Magazine publishers insist on punctual subscriptions and federal funding

Magazine publishers insist on punctual subscriptions and federal funding

Magazine publishers are demanding more reliable delivery of their magazines from Deutsche Post. The federal manager of the Media Association of the Free Press (MVFP), Stephan Scherzer, told the German Press Agency: “Over 90 percent of the subscription circulation of the magazines is dependent on the post.” Swiss Post should not evade its responsibility precisely because it has a quasi-monopoly position due to a lack of competition. “The quality of delivery is always a big problem, it needs to improve further and the subscriptions need to reach households on time.”

Post spokesman: “Quality of delivery significantly improved”

Scherzer also demanded: “We still need all working days as delivery days.” In the spring, the Post, which is currently in a wage dispute with warning strikes, will herald the next price round. “Price increases like in previous years do not fit into this crisis year – the postal service has to be moderate as a quasi-monopolist,” said Scherzer.

Swiss Post has had to deal with a wave of complaints in recent months. At the Federal Network Agency, more Germans than ever before have expressed their anger about lost or delayed shipments. A Post spokesman said on Monday that the “quality of delivery had been significantly improved and the number of complaints reduced”. This also applies to the delivery of press products. We are in close contact with the publishers on this. With regard to the delivery days, it has been said several times that delivery will continue to be made six days a week.

However, the company spokesman pointed out that the postal service was “confronted with sharply rising unit costs with declining volumes and higher personnel and material costs”. “We can’t say at this point in time what that means for the prices for press distribution, for which we are regulated.”

State requirements – reform is on the way

As a universal service provider, Swiss Post must comply with government regulations. These requirements are to be revised this year in a comprehensive reform of the completely outdated postal law. At the start of this reform, the Federal Ministry of Economics presented a key points paper last week in which proposals for the reform are made. In this paper, the Ministry does not propose changing the previous six-day delivery to just five days, which would result in the elimination of Mondays. It can therefore be assumed that the Ministry will leave this aspect as it has been and will continue to rely on six-day delivery in the future.

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The magazine publishers are also insisting on a topic that the red-green-yellow federal government has also taken up in its coalition agreement. It has been discussed for years, but nothing has happened so far: it is about state funding for periodical press. In view of the rising costs of delivery with falling circulations, media companies should be able to continue pursuing their digital transformation. A decision has not yet been made.

Scherzer said: “The facts for the non-discriminatory promotion of magazines and newspapers are known to everyone, which is why the federal government must and can now make a decision quickly – as stipulated in the coalition agreement.”

The managing director of the association added: “The digital transformation, which requires high investments, has been managed by the publishers for years on their own. The extreme cost increases, which the publishers cannot influence at all, make the funding necessary: ​​high paper prices, high postal costs, high energy prices, the affect logistics and printing costs.”

Digital business models take hold

With a view to the current financial year, Scherzer did not make any forecast. At the same time, he said: “The industry is not as pessimistic about the current year as it was in the summer of 2022, also because the digital business models are taking hold: Keywords paid content, podcasts, short video formats and especially the high-quality content and services of the specialist media are becoming urgent second hand.”

When asked whether more magazine titles had to be discontinued, the manager said: “So far we haven’t seen any trend towards more magazine titles being discontinued than in recent years.” This also shows that the digital transformation has made good progress and that the industry is more resilient as a result. But the risk of further hiring increases due to the burden of price increases for paper, energy, printing and mail. “I therefore do not want to rule out the possibility of further recruitment or sales this year.”

(tiw)

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