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Here you can see my four year old nephew's dream: a yellow post bus.
At the Glinde parcel delivery base in the south of Schleswig-Holstein there are normally 180 of them, at Christmas time there are 230. Currently, none of the cars are electric.
"Our delivery districts are sometimes simply too far apart for that," says Lena Huntscha, 26, who runs the Glinde site.
According to the plan, Deutsche Post / DHL wants to deliver completely electrically by 2050.
To this end, experiments are already being carried out with electric aircraft.
Photo: Julian Slagman / Julian Slagman / DER SPIEGEL
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There is a lot of activity on the conveyor belts inside, especially at Christmas time: parcel carriers drive from Glinde to 159 delivery districts in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
"Right now at Christmas we are of course working at full capacity, actually since Black Friday," says Head Huntscha.
At Deutsche Post / DHL, there are still delivery bases in which deliverers sort the parcels by hand.
The distribution machine can handle up to 6,000 parcels in one hour.
Right now that's a great relief.
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He gets them all.
The parcel scanners can not only capture parcels from above, but also from the side.
The size of the parcels has been increasing on average for years.
However, they must not be heavier than 31.5 kilograms in the individual shipment.
»We see in the Corona period that more is being ordered online.
It is also exciting that more and more older people are discovering that they can shop online, ”says Huntscha.
Deutsche Post / DHL is expecting a new high in parcels delivered this year as well.
Like for years.
On average, more than 13 million shipments are already being delivered to more than eight million customers in Germany every day.
Ascending trend.
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212 employees currently work in Glinde.
The impression in the picture is not deceptive: only a good 20 of them are women.
According to Lena Huntscha, this is still a comparatively good value, but it clearly leaves room for improvement.
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When it opened in July 2014, the Glinde location was the largest mechanized delivery base in the country.
The sorting hall has a size of almost 8000 square meters.
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Despite all automation, human hands are still required.
Here is an employee who puts packages on the belt.
Regular shifts last five hours here, and during the Christmas season it could be eight, says Huntscha.
In order to cope with the parcel volumes, Deutsche Post / DHL employs around 10,000 additional temporary workers nationwide in all areas of production during the Christmas business.
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Mouse traps in the parcel delivery base?
Actually.
This is what the employees call the yellow boxes, which are somewhat reminiscent of security checks at the airport.
However, they have nothing to do with uninvited guests or vacation: "We use them so that small packages or bags have a solid base and the system can read and sort them without any problems," says Huntscha.
In total, there are more than 1000 of the yellow sorting helpers in the parcel delivery base.
Photo: Julian Slagman / Julian Slagman / DER SPIEGEL
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Where are you going?
This is revealed by these city codes, behind which the destination of the packages is hidden.
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The smart loading of the vehicle is one of the most important tasks of a delivery person.
Around 200 packages fit in a transporter.
As a rule, packing is carried out according to the route that the driver has in front of him that day.
It's about skill and speed.
150 to 170 deliveries are the daily requirement for drivers, says Huntscha.
The parcel delivery service's working conditions have been criticized for years.
Not only at Deutsche Post / DHL.
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The days in Glinde begin when it is still dark.
At Christmas time, when the demand is high, at 1 a.m.
At 4 a.m. at normal busy times of the year.
Photo: Julian Slagman / Julian Slagman / DER SPIEGEL