DHL 2009 Annual Report Download - page 66

border letters posted within the  must be delivered within three days of posting. We
expect to have signi cantly exceeded this  gure once again, reaching a level of  .
 anks to our co-operation with retailers, our approximately , retail outlets
and points of sale have average weekly opening times of  hours. Surveys of our retail
outlet customers are conducted annually by Kundenmonitor Deutschland (customer
monitor for Germany) to determine their level of satisfaction with our services. Over
the past  years, our ratings have steadily improved from an already high level. Our
partner-operated locations in particular have received ratings approaching those of the
retail sector, with some partners even exceeding them. More than   of customers
are served within three minutes as con rmed by mystery shoppers from  Infratest,
which we hire to conduct around , tests of the retail outlets per year.
We regard working practices that protect the environment as a key yardstick of
quality. In Germany, we therefore employ a  Nord-certi ed environmental manage-
ment system in our mail and parcel businesses. As part of our GoGreen initiative, we o er
private and business customers climate-neutral shipping options. We are also testing
transport options involving hybrid, natural gas and electric-powered vehicles.
STRATEGY AND GOALS
We have three strategic approaches aimed at meeting the challenges of our busi-
ness, both today and in the future.
Securing our core business
We cut costs wherever possible and sensible, and enhance our business by launch-
ing new products and perpetuating strong customer relationships. We also retain the
high quality of our services whilst protecting the environment. Ideally, we search for
solutions that meet several goals at once: a new generation of machines in our mail
centres, for instance, not only raises the level of automation and thus quality but also
lowers production costs and carbon () emissions.
Proximity to our customers is important to us. We operate the largest network by
far of  xed-location retail outlets in Germany, consisting of some , outlets and
sales points. We are expanding our partnerships with retailers, and we o er fast and
easy online access to our mail and parcel services. Over the next three years, we will
expand our network of around , Packstations by another  machines.
Making our network more fl exible
To ensure that the earnings contribution of our mail business remains stable in
the future as well, we need to fundamentally change our network to make the costs
more  exible. In , we tested procedures for enabling us to respond to  uctuating
or declining volumes without sacri cing quality. During the summer holiday period,
we combined carrier routes, relocated mail sorting to neighbouring mail centres and
downsized our overnight airmail network. We will repeat those procedures that proved
e ective as necessary. Moreover, we plan to expand our parcel network and render it
more  exible in the interests of our customers.
Glossary, page 
Corporate responsibility, page 
Deutsche Post DHL Annual Report 
Group Management Report
Divisions

49