Deutsche Post to draft in office staff to help with Christmas deliveries

Already struggling with delivery delays and anticipating another super busy season over the Christmas holidays, Deutsche Post has apparently adopted an unusual approach to seasonal recruitment - drafting in its own office workers to help with Christmas deliveries. 

Office workers called on to help deliver Christmas post in Germany

With just over seven weeks to go until Christmas, Deutsche Post is approaching its busiest time of the year, but it’s lacking workers. According to a report in the Rhenische Post, as well as looking abroad to fill vacancies, the postal company is now calling on its own office-based employees to help out in distribution centres and with deliveries over Christmas. 

Referencing an internal statement made by board member Nikola Hagleitner, Rheinische Post explained that the company has been appealing to workers in its offices to provide extra support over the holiday season, when many more people send letters and parcels in Germany and to destinations abroad. 

In previous years, colleagues have typically worked one or two days at delivery and distribution centres in the lead-up to Christmas, but according to the newspaper report, Deutsche Post now wants to ask for additional working hours - up to one week in total.

Deutsche Post expects busy Christmas delivery season

Although the shadow of a recession undoubtedly hangs over this year’s festive celebrations, Deutsche Post is still expecting a high number of parcels - up to 11 million on each peak day in December up to Christmas eve. 

This is the same volume as was transported at the end of 2021, which was a record year for profits for Deutsche Post, fuelled largely by a huge uptick in the number of people doing shopping via the internet during the coronavirus pandemic.