Vending machines are considered post offices in Germany for the first time

In Germany, vending machines have been recognised as official post offices for the first time. Nine authorisations have been granted for automated stations instead of universal service branches, according to a letter from the Federal Network Agency to its advisory board, which is available to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

These are so-called postal stations where parcels can be dropped off and collected, stamps can be purchased and letters can be posted. Video counselling is also possible. Although such machines have been around for several years, they have not yet been recognised as branches - which is why they have not helped Swiss Post to fulfil its branch network obligation. This is now changing.

There are two locations in North Rhine-Westphalia (Dortmund and Siegen), two in Bavaria (Hummeltal and Egling), two in Baden-Württemberg (Steinhausen an der Rottum and Ebersbach an der Fils), one in Hesse (Asslar), one in Lower Saxony (Georgsmarienhütte) and one in Saxony-Anhalt (Muldestausee).

Swiss Post is obliged to have a branch in municipalities with more than 2,000 inhabitants. In addition, the branch may not be more than two kilometres away from contiguous residential areas. Swiss Post has not complied with these requirements for years; in July 2024, there were 141 unoccupied mandatory locations in Germany - there should have been a branch there, but there was not.

This, in turn, was mainly due to structural change: in villages, small towns and on the outskirts of cities, there are fewer and fewer kiosks, supermarkets and other shops that could also have a post office counter in addition to their core business - such retailers are then considered post offices.

Structural change is a problem for Swiss Post

When the last shop in a village closed down, the post office struggled to find a replacement. Sometimes it was forced to provide a container, which had limited opening hours but complied with the requirements of the old Postal Act. With the amendment to the Postal Act last year, the requirements were relaxed - the branch network obligation remained in place, but since then certain vending machines can be counted towards this obligation.

However, Swiss Post requires the approval of the Federal Network Agency and local authority representatives are also involved. This is intended to prevent the post office from closing branches on a large scale and the attractiveness of villages and small towns suffering as a result. The regulatory authority has given the green light in nine cases. It has received further applications for other locations, which it intends to examine step by step.

A spokesperson for Swiss Post welcomed the approval by the Federal Network Agency. ‘The Poststation is a customer-friendly vending machine solution that is available around the clock and offers our customers the most important letter and parcel services.’