The owners of record shops in Germany are currently defending themselves with a petition against the price changes of Deutsche Post and DHL for parcels, which will come into force on July 1, 2022. The two parcel and letter companies had previously announced changes that will have a major impact on international shipping costs.
Price increase for worldwide shipping
From July 1, 2022, the dimensional criteria for packages sent under the International Goods Post category – the standard for shipping vinyl records overseas – will be reduced. Shipping a record or two from Germany to the rest of the world currently costs just €5. However, the price change will increase the costs – with shipment tracking – from next month up to €19.89. The shipping costs for a record to Great Britain increase to up to €16.70.
“No record store will survive”
When the changes go into effect on July 1, sellers will need to start shipping their goods under the Parcel M International category. After all, this is the cheapest remaining option left to record store owners. Nevertheless, the price of the “Päckchen M International” is still two to three times the current price.
“Currently I can send two 12″ records to the US, Canada or even Australia for €5. From July, shipping the same package will cost 20 euros,” Andy Vaz, owner of German record store Yore Store, told Mixmag.
“They changed the format of the package so that vinyl records no longer fit at this cheap price – we’re missing about 5cm. There’s no way people are going to want to pay €20 to have a €10 or €15 record shipped. This will affect all German labels of all genres, anyone who sends out records through Bandcamp or Discogs and so on,” he added.
“I’ve been doing this since 1998 and the US is our strongest market for record sales. No record store will be able to survive without this market, because we can’t make a living from just passing customers,” Vaz concluded.
At the time this article was written, almost 11,300 signatures had already been collected. However, the current goal is 15,000 signed petitions. So a few active helpers are still needed. If you want to support the petition can sign it online here.