Consistently not receiving mail - Berlin

It's quite strange because it's not as though I'm not receiving any mail - but so far quite a few have gone missing, and I almost missed paying my Rueckmeldung because the form didn't arrive. So far I have missed several letters from banks and other such things. In total I would say I only receive about 75% of my mail - or possibly less, because I'm sure there's more mail I've missed that I just never found out about for whatever reason.

Could it just be a lazy postman? It also happens frequently that we get notices saying that we must pick up our packages because we weren't home to receive them...when in fact we were home all day.

I feel quite annoyed that German stereotypes of efficiency and punctuality don't apply to things that are actually useful!

Is your name on the letter box, emilysium? The principle here is: the address not the name!

Mind you, agree with you. Basically, I´m not sure how many of the postmen can read names or care. City life is more and more anonymous. I sent my Auntie in a small town in England a birthday card and present a few months ago and the postman KNEW she was expecting something from me ( because people know each other ) and played a joke.. " nothing from Germany today, Alywn , just this.. " Big city syndrome, emily.

If your name is on the letter box, then I would go lodge a complaint at the nearest post office. Several years ago, I subscribed to a magazine that I didn't always receive. When I called the publisher to complain, they said they kept getting the cover sent back to them with the remark that I had moved without a forwarding address. Obviously, someone at the post office was stealing my magazines and trying to cover it up. So I filed a formal complaint, including a photocopy of a cover that had been sent back to the publisher. Of course, the final statement from Deutsche Post was that they found no evidence of anything untoward, but after that, I always got my magazines.

Also, I used to work with someone who once worked as Christmas rush "Aushilfe" while a student, and she claimed she saw regular postal workers (not the seasonal student employees) shaking Christmas packages and opening them. So that's why I always insure any packages or send them by registered mail, so they're trackable.

You should also complain every time you get a notice of a package when you know for sure you were home. People do these things because they think they can get away with them.

How do I file a complaint? Whenever it happens, I always comment to them that I was home when the package was "delivered," but so far no one has offered the opportunity to file a formal complaint...though of course, that may have something to do with the line of 20+ people behind me.

Having previously worked as a postman (albeit not in Germany) I can assure you that this is actually an international practice whenever there's too much shite to deliver per day. Getting stuff stolen and/or lost most definitely isn't, however, so please do file a complaint at the earliest opportunity.

you don't have to queue, even the Bundespost is online:

https://www.deutschepost.de/dpag/multiapps?xmlFile=1011279&lang=de_DE&skin=hi&check=yes&APP.anliegen=reklamationen

unfortunately only in German. Select "Zustellung" in the field "Betrifft: -- Bitte wählen --"

Given the German attitude to customer service I suggest you get cast iron evidence of letters SENT and not being delivered, ideally post a letter to yourself and record when/where you posted it.

Good luck!

I'm an obsessive-compulsive person, and I'm required by the laws of nature to check my mailbox every time I pass it. I would do this even if it proved futile and there was never any mail in there after I've collected the day's mail. Sadly, it's a very useful habit, as my mail is often delivered twice per day.

Either the delivery person is a complete idiot, and has to backtrack to deliver mail that she missed on the first round, or the neighbors are delivering stuff that was put in their box by mistake (also indicating that the delivery person is a complete idiot). Since I don't get too much of my neighbor's mail, I have to envision the delivery person wandering aimlessly throughout the neighborhood, trying to figure out the whole numbers-on-the-mailbox thing.

Ohh do not let even start on a lazy postman. My hubby had the same problem. All of my mail was nicely received while his mail was not, especially bank stuff. Our names are clearly written on the mailbox. It seems our mailman was not able to find his name. Not delivering mail got my hubby into anger and mild depression.

He complained to post office in writing but nothing significant happened. Until one day we talked to the mail man that he was not delivering letters. He apologized and said did not notice this before. I was like yeah alright, do it right now. Since then all is good until now.

Sorry for the long story, I would rather recommend to talk to your mailman/woman about this. I sure hope this will solve your problem

Good luck.

Lazy my fucking arse. YOU try doing that shit for a living just for a week and then get back to me. Did it for a year myself back in the day and I'm telling you, it's one of the shittiest-paid and heaviest jobs there is.

HOWEVER... that's no excuse for 1) losing your stuff 2) stealing your stuff 3) the delivery person not admitting his/her mistakes, so yah, you've got grounds for complaining, sure. But lazy? Yah, fuckin'-A right...

I am sorry I meant our mailman since i am upset at him. Did not mean to imply to all. Thanks for the correction by appropriate words.

Ok cheers Arah, no sweat

PS. Emily, please be so kind as to peruse my comment above as regards the so-called lazy postmen. Only noticed just now that you actually mentioned them too...

There you go msalama, I changed it for ya

Rah Cheers again.

I did it as well and it´s one of the easiest, best compensated jobs out there considering that it´s unskilled labor.

I started out on $19 an hour and this was as a sub.

I think one of the reasons there are a lot of shitty mailmen, is that at least in America, the route is a designated number of hours. So for example, your route can be set at 9 hours and you will get paid for 9 hours irrespective of how long it takes you to actually complete your daily work. So if you finish your route in 6 hours, you´ll still get paid as if you had worked the full 9 hours. Naturally this encourages people to rush through their work and cut corners.

My mailman here is a complete POS too and mail is often not delivered despite my name being on the mailbox.