F.A.Z. and FIEGE restructure delivery services

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.) and the logistics company FIEGE are restructuring their delivery services and have formed Boxit GmbH. Medienservice GmbH & Co. KG, the joint venture established by both enterprises that has been operating in the market for over 20 years, will spin off its existing Germany-wide delivery service of periodicals into Boxit and continue to expand this segment. FIEGE holds 51 per cent while F.A.Z. holds 49 per cent of shares in the newly formed, independent company. Newspapers will continue to be delivered by Medienservice GmbH & Co. KG which delivers roughly 87 million papers annually to its readership across Germany via more than 260 delivery agents.

“Figuratively speaking, Boxit stands for something like ‘put it in the letterbox’”, says Michael Röttcher, Managing Director at FIEGE Last Mile and of Boxit. Also, parcels intended for letterbox delivery is a segment expected to undergo further expansion in addition to the already existing and rapidly growing periodicals operations. “Therefore, in future, we will not only be delivering periodicals but everything that fits into a letterbox. That includes, for example, mobile phone cases, battery packs or USB sticks. In simple terms, everything that fits into a thick envelope but is still dropped in a letterbox”, Röttcher explains.

Two separate departments at Medienservice were already actively involved before the spin off: one for newspapers, the other for periodicals. “The highly successful delivery service for periodicals also enjoyed strong growth rates and will now run as a separate entity. This will allow us to focus even more on the growing market of addressed deliveries as well as the development of new business”, says Dr. Volker Breid, Managing Director Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, about the Boxit spin-off.