Deutsche Post World Net is targeting cost-cuts ahead of the loss of its monopoly at the end of 2007 by outsourcing some services and employees and possibly passing on some costs to corporate clients, chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel told Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published today.
"If we should notably lose sales, then at least we can react on the cost side," Zumwinkel said, adding the company may for instance cut down on quantity discounts for corporate clients.
But he said the logistics giant is currently more concerned about competition from electronic communication than from other companies.
Zumwinkel also called upon other EU member states to liberalize their postal markets to create a level playing field within the region.
"Deutsche Post could even live with being exposed to competition two or three years earlier than other postal companies" as long as it is clear that other countries have plans to liberalize the logistics market, he said.
"And we have to be able to find [business] we lose here abroad," Zumwinkel added.
Commenting on DHL's U.S. business, he said while the company will never become market leader in the U.S., it sees the business improving slowly.
For this year, he reaffirmed the unit is seen posting an operating loss of up to 300 million euros this year and reaching break even by the end of 2006.
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