Labor market: The slow farewell to the postman

“If it weren’t for the good old post office, where would all the letters come from?” Heinz Rühmann went his way to this film music in the 1950s as “Briefträger Müller” – on the screen he distributed letters in a small town whose residents he knew well and greeted in a friendly manner.

The film makes it clear that the postman was an institution. If there were a new edition, the role could be different. Because there are fewer and fewer postmen in Germany. Instead, network deliverers who have both parcels and letters with them in the van are becoming more important.

The volume of letters has been falling for a long time

The structural change began at the turn of the millennium and quickly picked up speed in the digital age – people wrote fewer and fewer letters and initially communicated more with emails and finally also via social media. At the same time, booming online trade boosted the parcel business. The result: the volume of letters has been falling for a long time and the volume of parcels is skyrocketing.

This is how the volume ratio between the two postal divisions changed: while in 2010 there were still 21 letters per parcel in Germany, this ratio was only 15 to 1 in 2015 and 8 to 1 in 2020. The trend will continue to fall: in 2025 Deutsche Post expects five letters per package. In 2030, the ratio should only be three to one.

One is “confronted with an intensifying structural change of ever decreasing letter volumes and increasing parcel volumes,” says Tobias Meyer, Board Member for Post & Parcel Germany. “The corona pandemic has accelerated this development again and solidified this trend.” We are therefore expanding the network delivery where it “makes sense and is feasible” – “in order to be able to continue to offer our employees secure jobs with decent wages”. The logic behind this: If you continued to deliver letters as before, the delivery network would eventually become unaffordable given the falling volume of letters.

“Serious operational consequences” threaten

An internal paper, which is available to the dpa, illustrates the great importance of the topic for the group. In the document, the company emphasizes that countermeasures must be taken. One is “constantly exposed to increasing demands from competition, customers and legislators”. If one does not act decisively, “serious operational consequences” would threaten.

In fact, the restructuring that began a good two decades ago is progressing. Of the approximately 55,000 delivery districts in Germany, 55 percent have already switched to combined delivery – the classic postman no longer exists there. In 2017, the share was less than 50 percent, by 2025 it is expected to rise to 70 percent. In the past, combined delivery only took place in rural areas, after which cities were also included.

At Deutsche Post, where the annual general meeting is on the agenda today, combined delivery is an ongoing topic. In parts of the workforce it is registered with concerns.

“Many are already working at the limit”

Maik Brandenburger from the communications union DPV points out that the physical strain on employees who have only delivered letters so far is likely to increase in the group delivery – after all, they then also have to carry heavy packages. “Many deliverers are already working at the limit and sometimes beyond – an additional burden will drive the already high sick leave even further up.” The union warns of further work intensification and staff reductions as a result of the expanded network delivery.

Thorsten Kühn from the Verdi union admits that structural change cannot be ignored. “So it’s obvious that you don’t continue as usual in all delivery areas.” The change from postman to group postman also helps to secure jobs in the long term.

Find another solution for mail carriers

In principle, people are open to the topic, says Kühn. “However, we have to keep a close eye on the load – tools are needed to be able to transport heavy packages, such as hand trucks or other special equipment.” In addition, there should be no compulsion, he says. “If long-time mail carriers do not want to be retrained as group mail carriers, another solution would have to be found for them.”

And what does that mean for consumers? There will probably not be a longer wait for the few letters that you still get. “The parcel network is trimmed for efficiency – if letters are also delivered by the parcel carrier, they should arrive just as quickly as before,” says Frankfurt logistics professor Kai-Oliver Schocke. He also considers the measures taken by Swiss Post to be inevitable and correct. For the consumer, the gradual farewell to the postman is a nostalgic thing: “The well-known postman may soon no longer appear on the doorstep of some people – but the courier is certainly at least as friendly.”