Deutsche Post received 25% more complaints in 2025
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Figures from the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) have revealed that Deutsche Post received a record number of complaints in 2025. What were residents complaining about?
Deutsche Post receives record complaints
Deutsche Post received a total of 55.395 complaints over the course of 2025, around 25 percent more than the postal service received in 2024 and an all-time record for the number of complaints received in one year.
The latest figures show that an existing trend is continuing: people in Germany are increasingly dissatisfied with the postal service. The company, which is a brand of the DHL Group, recorded 15.000 complaints in 2021, 43.000 in 2022 and 44.406 in 2024.
While the number of complaints continues to grow, it remains relatively small compared with the number of letters and parcels processed by Deutsche Post and DHL. Over the course of 2025, the two companies processed 9,4 billion letters and 4,5 billion parcels.
Why are people complaining to Deutsche Post?
In 1995, the state-owned Deutsche Bundespost Postdienst became Deutsche Post AG, and the German government began selling off shares in the international company, which became fully private in 2000. In 2002, Deutsche Post AG acquired all of DHL’s remaining stock.
Today, Deutsche Post AG is responsible for delivering letters in Germany, and DHL is responsible for delivering parcels. Notably, of the 55.395 complaints Deutsche Post received in 2025, 90 percent concerned DHL services.
The most common complaints were about parcels which had arrived damaged or been delivered to the wrong address. Other common complaints included long waiting times to receive parcels, and a small number complained about package pick-up point opening times.
Post says competitor errors mean more complaints
According to Deutsche Post, “the postal service functions very well in Germany,” and the number of complaints does not mean that there is any “structural quality problem”. In fact, Deutsche Post attributes a high number of complaints to errors made by competitors.
Speaking to ZEIT, a Deutsche Post spokesperson said other postal companies deliver as many as 800.000 letters to incorrect addresses. Recipients assume Deutsche Post has made the error, and so submit their complaints to the Post.