Ever received a heartfelt gift which seems to have been prematurely ripped open by a ravenous dog? You’re not alone. Complaints to Deutsche Post about damaged packages and missing letters have more than doubled in 2023.
The data is only in for the first quarter of the year, but already Deutsche Post has received 8.515 complaints from disgruntled customers, according to the Federal Network Agency. The figure has more than doubled compared to the same period last year, during which 4.466 people had already complained to the Post.
Missing letters and damaged packages have been named as the most common complaints. So far in 2023, there have been 757 complaints about letters that chose to take their own mysterious paths, 97 percent of these letters were supposed to be under the watchful eye of Deutsche Post. Of the 627 complaints about damaged packages, 79 percent had been sent using the postal service.
Softening the blow to the Post a little, a spokesperson from the Federal Network Agency pointed out that while the data shows the total number of complaints that have been received from customers about Deutsche Post, the claims have not been investigated so it remains unclear whether the complaints are justified.
A curious explanation for some of the missing post could be recurring cases of Deutsche Post staff hoarding or dumping post due to them working long overtime, suffering injuries or dealing with overburdened work schedules.
The number of complaints the company has received in recent years has been increasing. Over the course of 2022, the Post got around 43.000 complaints, almost three times higher than in 2021 and a lot higher than the previous record from 10 years earlier of what now seems like a measly 18.867 complaints.
Despite the unflattering number of complaints Deutsche Post has already racked up after the first quarter, the number of complaints the company receives each year is relatively low compared to the number of packages and letters it sends. Each year the Post sends an estimated 48 million letters and 6,2 million parcels.
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