Buying a single stamp from the post office - Munich

Dear TT'ers.

I am aware of the fact that I should be wiser and more tolerant than I am, but I can't help it - I feel evil today. I have noticed lately that the dear Deutsche Post doesn't sell its customers single stamps anymore. You, as a customer, are oblidged to buy 10 stamps at one time. They realise that it isn't completely right of them to force their customers to buy that many stamps if they only need to buy one stamp (who still writes letters these days?) so they offer following solution: certain counters still offer single stamps if the contingent of single stamps have not all been sold yet. The thing is, they know they are lying to you. While telling you that they are unable to sell you single stamps, they offer to put a single stamp on a letter you hand in directly at the counter. If you don't happen to have the letter with you, they are suddenly out of stamps and you need to buy 10 piece. The automats outside are often out of service, switched off or you don't have the right amount of change. A higher amount than the price of a stamp gets refunded to you in the form of useless, small stamps. This is an extract of what happend to me yesterday at the post office at Münchner Freiheit:

MajorB: stands in queue
MajorB: finally gets to the front..
Postal Worker(smiling) : How may I help you?
MajorB: I need some 55cent stamps and one €1.45 stamp, please.
Postal Worker: I can offer you this lovely collection of 10x 55c stamps, for instance. Or look at these - aren't they lovely?
MajorB: Yes, they are nice.. ok, I'll take 10 of them. But I only need one €1.45 stamp. Can I have one please?
Postal Worker: No. You must buy 10 at a time.
MajorB: What? You don't sell single stamps anymore? At a POST OFFICE??
Postal Worker(looking uncomfortable): Err, no. You have to buy 10 stamps or go outside and use the automats.
MajorB: The automats are very often Außer Betrieb (not working).
Postal Worker: Well, I am sorry, we don't sell single stamps.
MajorB: Ok, this is incredible. I am in a post office, I just stood in a queue and you want to force your customers to buy 10 stamps if they only need one?
Postal Worker(nervously looking left and right):Well, err, actually, we have two colleagues selling single stamps. There are two designated counters for that purpose. Counter 1 and counter 5. Those colleagues are allowed to sell you single stamps, should any single stamps be left. We only get a certain amount of single stamps to sell, after all.. but I unfortunately do not see the colleagues at the moment, they aren't at their counters, so I cannot help you I'm afraid.
MajorB(as friendly and patiently as possible): So, now imagine I am a customer standing in the queque, just like I did.. how do I know which of you people would eventually sell me a single stamp?
Postal Worker(brightens up): Oh that's easy! If it's in the morning, go to counter 1, in the afternoon go to counter 5.
MajorB: But it's not written anywhere is it? So if you don't know this in advance, like I didn't, and you get to the front and want to buy a stamp and by chance end up at a counter different to Nr.1 and 5, you walk away without stamps, is that right?
Postal Worker:Err, look. If you have the letter with you at the moment I will gladly take it and put a stamp on it.
MajorB: Ah. So if I had the letter with me, you'd suddenly have a single stamp to put on my letter? No, I don't have the letter with me. But thanks for the info.
//went off and kicked the first poodle on my way

So my dear fellow TT'ers. It's a lot of fun. It's obviously a very sore point with them. If you want to freak them out, ask for a single stamp next time you go there and insist on having the right to get one. I can only say Servicewüste Deutschland.

I don't believe a word MB, that postal worker was far too polite to work for Deutsche Post.

I always just hand them the letter and they tell me how much. I dont even think they stick a stamp on it just put it through a machine which prints something on it. I thought thats how everyone does it.

Ask him to print it for you from the printing machine he has at his counter.

I agree that it's totally stupid, as does MonksTown in another thread where we posted this. Of course, 'I told you so' doesn't help

I'm hoping they'll release a new 70p stamp for letters to England too, as 2x35cent stamps sucks! Purely out of aesthetical reasons though.

I always get the speech "your envelope is too big speech". Which is fine really for my german is not good enough for me to understand. So I get to fall into the Homer Simpson syndrome.

Postal guy: Blah, blah blah blah blah blah
Perdido: Hes talking I see him , but I am thinking of hot dogs and beer. Oh sweet beer, pruveyor of ideas. Stimulator of social conversations

Anyway MB sorry about your predicament good luck

70c

/pedant

So bludgeoning him to death with an ice pick wasn't an option then?

@ER

Actually, at Münchner Freiheit they have always been very polite to me. She wasn't being impolite either, she just refused to sell me a single stamp after I had already bought 10 stamps of a different kind. I didn't have the big letter with me. I don't see why they shouldn't be selling single stamps anymore. If I go into Karstadt and want a liter of milk, they aren't going to say "no, unless you take 10 bottles" either. What is wrong with this country? I was unaware of a different discussion about this matter on TT.

if you stick a picture on that rant you'll prob get 3 months TT subscription MB, might recoup your costs

Ah right. I stand corrected.

So bludgeoning HER to death with an ice pick wasn't an option then?

But they aren't going to want to sell you 100ml of milk for a couple of cups of tea either and that is how the post office looks at their product now.

Single stamps? Use a machine or the one counter that will sell them every other Tuesday morning from 0930 till 1030.

Cost reduction innit.

@Crawlie

Look, it's not her fault either. *They are just following rules afterall.* She was very friendly but very nervous about it.

@mb
Thanks for putting it all down - I had a similar experience at Goetheplatz post office just before Christmas but just couldn't face writing down the whole exchange.

Here's the "executive summary": I actually wanted to buy a dozen stamps for postcards but the guy said that only counters 2 and 4 sold them (not that it was marked anywhere). I happened to be at number 3, of course... and no, I couldn't move across when one of those two became free, I'd have to go back to the end of the line. As I said, this was just before Christmas, you can imagine how long the line was (the last few people in it were literally outside the building). Grrr... just thinking about it makes my blood boil!

Gee, I was about to go to the Post and try to buy one stamp this afternoon.

Unfortunately, I have to wait till they open up again at 3.

@MT

Last week I had to post a letter. I had no stamp. The queue inside Münchner Freiheit post office was all the way to the door. So I decided to use the automat. I needed to buy a €1.45 stamp. There was a queue in front of the automat as well. I decided to count off the €1.45 exactly as I am sick of walking away with 5cent stamps etc as the automat doesn't give you any change. So I got to the automat and started throwing in the money. It took a while for me to throw in all the change. Finally I fumbled the last 2 cents out of my wallet, the last 2 cents to make up the glorious €1.45 needed for the stamp. At that point the automat decided to kick out my 2 cents. It didn't accept the last 2 cents. So I took the 2 cents, rubbed it against the metal, tried again and again and it wouldn't accept it. So I had to take a diffent coin. I only had a 10cent coin left. So I used the 10 cent coin, which the automat accepted. The rest I again got handed out in useless, smaller stamps which I throw away anyway at some point. I don't see why I should support government-sponsored terror like this.

not sure you have a choice though really

on the 15th dec i ordered per fax 300 x 1.44 stamps(i have a on line business) they didn't tell me that from the 1st jan the new price would be 1.45 . early jan i went to the post office and explain that i still have 150 stamps either can you take them back or give me 150 x 1 cent stamps.no we can't take them back you have to go through head office . stamps you have get from the machine outside.phoned through to head office who said we can send them back by registed post by our costs and they would transfer the amount.all this time consuming.i don't understand why the post at the hauptbahnhof could not take them back.as they made the mistake.i could go on about the gottschalk brothers earning millions with the crap advertising the post but i guess one rant is enough for today

another reason to boycott old-fashioned methods of communication and switch to 100% electronic, IMHO

did they? seems they gave you what you ordered

Don't see why they couldn't sell you a bunch of 1c stamps though - although I suppose they don't have such stamps at the counter actually

i don't think i was the only person left with 1.44 stamps .

That's funny. Why can't they just take apart the packs of ten and sell them seperately?

I have a couple 1,45 € stamps if you'd like some.. sending out Bewebungen?

Love the script!!

My husband (German) had the same experience up at the Giesing post office. I had asked him to buy me one stamp for a letter to Oz but he didn't have the letter with him. Again no advance information about the "correct" queues. He came back home fuming and somewhat astonished at the crappy "process", saying the postal worker informed him after queuing for some time that he would have to queue up again to get the single stamp as she could only print off stickers which needed to put straight onto the letter. Or he could use the automat (which was out of order) After advising her politely that he was happy to stand ALL day at her counter until someone gave him his one stamp she went over to the correct counter and got the stamp for him. (I am so proud of him!) He reckons its a rule dreamt up by one of the "old beamters" that DP can't get rid of, and who gives a s**t about customer service. The staff don't seem to like the rule either and get crap every day for it. A few well placed signs wouldn't hurt though.

Major Bummer, I know what you mean mate, really frustrating, I bought a book of ten in the end to save me going near the place much. Must buy a new book with highr priced stamps.

TBH though Deutsche Post might be 100% owned by the federal government but it is an AG, it's own to make money. Having lots of staff in post offices selling single stamps is a way to lose money.

So the will accept the letters AT ANY COUNTER and put the stamps on for you but will not sell you single stamps?

So how does that cut costs at the post office? Seems to me that it would be less time-consuming to hand you the stamp and you put it on yourself... No real logic there MT or is it in the Union Handbook or something.

@MT

But why, IYHO, can't the staff sell single stamps in addition to their normal "service"? How long does it take to sell somebody a stamp? A minute at the most I'd say..

what about the gottschalk brothers making millions while they are laying off staff making a visit to the post office a fucking long wait

But they think nothing of wasting 10 minutes every time someone dares to question their (stupid) rules...

Well, if the employee earns 3,000 Euro gross monthly salary (including all fringe benefits, overheads, etc.) and works 150 hours per month, then his hourly labor costs are 20 Euros. One minute = 33 cents. I guess it's really not very profitable, considering they actually have to deliver the letter as well...
Edit: Crawlie's right though - if you bring the letter with you, it's just as much effort for them.

Funny, I must have different luck than you, I always get one stamp as I need it, or the print it out for me. Often I do use the Automat for stamps, and yeah, I get some small stamps in return, but then next time I need to go get stamps, I bring them with me, and I can use them to purchase less stamps from the machine. ( I was at the post office just in the new year to send off a bunch of stuff).
I have 2 post offices close by, and both are fine. Sorry to hear you had troubles.

No, it doesn't take long to sell someone a stamp in itself.
(We'll ignore the fact that the staff have to even enter into a till selling an individual stamp.)

But if you get rid of all the people who buy single stamps by forcing them to use an automat you can decrease the staff levels you need in a post office. If you can get them to bulk buy in advance you get the added bonus of the free capital!

shoving a letter through an on the counter franking machine is probably quicker than finding and tearing out the correct individual stamp.

Ironic, a lot of TTers are in favour of more "free market" and this is a DIRECT result of it.

Yeah, I hate the Gottschalks too. One of the first against the wall after the revolution!

So they will waste time and money TAKING your letter and putting the stamp on it but not selling you the actual stamp? That must surely go against Union regulations

what do you all use stamps for?
why don't you just send emails?

*puzzled*

@tom_a

But, as Kay stated before, they are compelled to argue with every annoyed customer wanting to buy a stamp, i.e. waste more than a minute. That would cost €3.30 according to your calculation. I also do not think that they'd be earning that high a salary. I think you could half it easily to get close to the truth. Besides, which other services IYHO do the post office offer that would, seen out of a financial viewpoint justify their hourly rate? And shouldn't one inherently expect single stamps to be sold at a post office? Doesn't this happen all over in the rest of the world?

In Canada you can buy packages of stamps at the Grocery store and drug stores (pharmacies in Canada), or stand in line at the Post Office to buy one stamp. Packages are easy, don't have to think about it, and you always have stamps on hand.

@Topsy

I actually get *real* letters nowadays still(like, wow), some of my friends prefer writing in paper now and then. Then I reply in paper, knowing these friends would prefer it that way as well. Everything else gets done via email.

Because ecards are naff and you get into trouble from your girlfriend when you send her one for her birthday. FACT.

Unless you are like me and in the 12-18 months that go by between posting letters you misplace the booklet with 9 of the 10 stamps still in it. I must have a drawer full of these pesky things by now but god only knows where!.

Yes, obviously they should just sell the freaking single stamp.

They probably think they will eventually get everyone trained to know which counter they should go to for a single stamp, and then they won't have the arguments. False, but probably what they think.

I can also buy stamps at the news stand in my block. I've never heard from that guy that he won't sell me a single stamp.

Well I would like to get more nice post and less bills. Unfortunately most of my bills are now direct debit and I get the billing dockets sent by email so hardly any post for me now.
There is something special about a letter. I keep some by my bed and when I'm feeling a bit blah or homesick, I dig one out and read it. I love seeing my mum's writing (she's always saying that my dad is going on about somesuch while she's writing so the notes are quick and tucked in magazine articles and newspaper cuttings). I like seeing the different types of paper, it somehow tells you a bit more about the person and their life than an email does.

And yes, Mister, this is a hint. Haven't had a letter off you for, ooooooo, ages. *tsk*

and then they will change it to counters 3 and 6

Sorry, where exactly is the free market for posting letters?
You can post with Deutsche Post or ...?
You can buy stamps at Deutsche Post counters or Deutsche Post vending machines or ...?

It may be an AG, but it still has a monopoly on letter delivery (under a certain weight I think). Therefore I think it should still be obliged to offer certain services like selling a customer a single stamp.

Sorry, couldn't buy a stamp.

I can sort of understand why they would do this (basically for the reasons MT describes about reducing volume of people using the service) but it rather defeats the idea if they still have 2 counters selling single stamps (unless perhaps those counters are never manned!)

the trouble with a free market for letters is that no-one really wants to offer the servive for individual letters delivered door-to-door because there is no money to be made. The private companies only want to cherry-pick the profitable sections of the market, like mass-mailing, packet servies etc. If the industry was totally de-regulated it would probably spell the end of a universal door-to-door service. We would probably end up having to go somewhere to collect our mail, rather than have it delivered.

@BR

Maybe we are misunderstanding each other. The two counters selling single stamps are selling single stamps in addition to their other services. Not only stamps.

I feel haunted by now. Within the last hour two yellow trucks with the words "Die Post" have gone past my window. GoodbyeTT, they are coming to get me!

yeah I understand that. My point is, if those two counters are 'wasting their time/profitability' selling single stamps then all the counters might as well do that, otherwise I don't see the point. There will still be no time saving/reduction in volume of people if certain counters are offering the service. All it does is confuse people and lead to (admittedly quite entertaining) rants - I can well understand why one would be irritated to be told that you had made it to the 'wrong' counter

Ah, ok, then we do understand each other. My point as well.

Two weeks ago the post sent out a flyer to every household in the BRD about this. All you had to do was send in an SAE and you got the details of which counters were selling single stamps on which days.

@Yeti
Really? We didn't get a letter..