The Ukranian flag flies outside the home of go4copy.net leader Achim Carius in Oestrich-Winkel, a town east of Frankfurt, Germany.
By Ed Avis
APDSP members in Germany are way closer to the new war in the Ukraine than members in the U.S. or Canada – both physically and, in many senses, emotionally -- and consequently they are feeling the effects more acutely.
“For two weeks we’ve been feeling the third world war in Central Europe,” says Achim Carius, CEO of go4copy.net, a network of reprographics shops with 60 locations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “All of the employees in our member firms watch the TV news, and that brings down everyone’s spirit.”
Tobias Pernkopf, sales director for Es-Te Folding Systems in Berlin, says the war has spiked gasoline prices and perhaps heating bills, but he has other concerns on his mind: “It’s not about paying a little more money here and there -- to me the invasion has fundamentally changed things. Before we were one world, more or less. Everyone wanted peace, everyone wanted economic growth. Now we’re back to the Russians being the bad guys.”
Prices Up, Shipments Slowed
There’s no doubt that the war has caused prices to rise in Europe (and the rest of the world), and that may ultimately affect reprographics businesses. In the short term, fuel prices are pinching everyone’s wallet. Thomas Ingendoh, CEO of scanner manufacturer Image Access, which is headquartered in Wuppertal, a city in the west of Germany, says he did a quick conversion of liters to gallons and determined that a gallon of gasoline in Germany currently costs about US$10. That’s double the cost in the United States.
Image Access imports a few parts for its scanners from China, and those deliveries now are delayed because railroads that previously ran through Russia into Central Europe have stopped. The company still expects to get those parts, but they’re coming via ship, which adds two months to the shipping time. And since Image Access pre-pays for those imports, it is financing the goods for two months longer than normal.
“When we were getting the shipments by train, the train from China rolled three weeks and a couple of days,” Ingendoh says. “Now it’s three months by container ship.”
Another small problem Image Access is facing is that it previously received non-standard, longer-size pallets from a supplier in Ukraine. They used those longer pallets to ship their scanners. Obviously, those shipments have ceased. It’s not a major problem – now they just use two smaller pallets instead.
Sales Hurt
The war has affected sales for Es-Te and Image Access, but so far just to a small extent. Pernkopf says about 5 to 10 percent of Es-Te’s sales were to companies in Russia, and they had some folding machines for those clients scheduled in 2022. Those sales are now on hold, of course.
Ingendoh says Image Access had expected about $1.2 million in scanner sales to Russian clients in 2022. “That business is dead for now,” Ingendoh says, adding that the salesperson for one of his Russian resellers had spent a week in Moscow just prior to the invasion and was assured that Putin was bluffing. “He even met with some generals and they were saying, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry.’ Even the military didn’t know. My personal view is that this will set Russia back to where they were 30 years ago. They will be a pariah state like North Korea. And that means no business for us. So we have to concentrate on other areas. Russia is gone for the foreseeable future.”
Historical Changes
But everyone interviewed for this story recognizes that the war will have greater effects than a few lost sales.
Pernkopf grew up in Berlin, which was divided until he was 11 years old. He lived in West Berlin, but his maternal grandmother lived in East Germany, and he has many memories of visiting her there before the wall fell.
“It’s not like it was a distant thing,” he says. “My grandma could never come visit us in the West. I crossed the border quite frequently. What I remember now of those times was that they [the communists] don’t come to play, this is real serious stuff we’re talking about. They really want to oppress people. We’re back to the fundamental idea of where it’s freedom in the West, you have rights, and on the other side you don’t. I kind of lost that feeling over the years, because everyone was coming together. But now it’s the Russians again. This is really scary stuff.”
Carius, who is active in politics in Germany in addition to being the association leader, also says the invasion has greatly affected him and the go4copy.net members.
“Today the Ukrainian leader Volodmir Zelensky spoke before the German Parliament very emotionally,” Carius says. “I had to cry.” The Germans are doing what they can to help the situation, Carius explains. “Many members have donated for aid transports from Germany to Poland on the border with Ukraine. Suppliers are also active and call for donations. I myself hoisted the Ukraine flag at my house as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and against the murderer Putin. It has been hanging there since the first day of the war. In Frankfurt and other cities we have many large demonstrations against Putin, in which members also take part.”
If it’s possible to say there is a silver lining to the war, it’s that it has brought out the best in many people.
“There are many refugees coming to Berlin, and I’m overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people here,” Pernkopf says. “They have signs saying, ‘One room, two persons’ or ‘two bedrooms available.’ It’s people helping people. In Berlin especially we understand communism.”
Ingendoh echoes those sentiments: “I find it extremely good that the world stays together. World unity is good. You have to make it clear that you don’t invade your neighbor.”