The number of post offices in Germany has fallen by just under 7 percent over the past 20 years. In 2000, there were still around 13,700 branches, in the first half of this year, there were 12,700.
The numbers emerge from a response of the Federal Government to a request from the left-wing fraction. However, these include fewer and fewer "real" post offices operated by the Group itself and its own employees. Their number has dropped from 6,000 to just 1,000. 92 percent of the "branches" are today so-called postal agencies of private providers, such as in magazines or lottery shops. In the meantime, Swiss Post even operated only 596 branches in 2012 and 2013, after which the number increased again.
According to the German government, there were 130,000 in the year 2002, and in the first half of 2019 just under 110,000 of the yellow boxes in Germany did not exist in the mailboxes.
"Citizen-friendly, employee-friendly, inexpensive"
Left-fraction leader Dietmar Bartsch criticized the development. "The majority of Deutsche Post must return to the public sector," he said. The service at the post office is not getting better for years, but worse. "For many citizens, it is a great nuisance if post offices close in their place and at the same time the Porto rises." When Deutsche Post was publicly owned, it had been closer to the people, more employee-friendly and cheaper.
The Federal Government refers in its answer to the "Postal Universal Service Regulation". It requires a universal service: there must be at least 12,000 "stationary facilities" nationwide for mailing, at least one institution in all municipalities with more than 2000 inhabitants, and in each district one per 80 square kilometers.
More employee rights for parcel delivery service
The supply of mailboxes is also regulated by ordinance. For residents in contiguous built-up residential areas, the next mailbox may not be more than one kilometer away.
A post spokeswoman turned against the criticism of the left: The opening times at the private partner branches in the retail trade are on average longer than before in the own branches. In addition, there are an additional 11,000 parcel shops, 3700 packing stations and 2500 points of sale for stamps. Customers could also use letter or parcel services on the Internet. The mailbox density is also higher than prescribed, the spokeswoman said.
The German government passed a bill this Wednesday to better protect parcel delivery and improve working conditions in large parcel services: The bill extends subcontractor liability to the courier, express and parcel sector. Thus, the large parcel services are responsible for ensuring that subcontractors commissioned by them correctly pay their employees' social contributions.
A similar regulation already exists for the construction and meat industries. The coalition wants to contain abuse in the booming package industry. This year alone, around 3.7 billion parcels are expected in Germany.