Post office on Theresienstraße closed 1pm to 2pm

The Post Office at Theresienstr. 22 in Maxvorstadt (München) is open weekdays 9.00-13.00 and 14.00-18.00 but closed 13.00-14.00. Several other branches of the Post Office that I have visited do not close for an hour in the afternoon. Does anyone know why this one has such inconvenient hours?

Lunch?

The post as with many German institutions haven't figured out that they need not shut up shop to have lunch, they'd prefer to lose out on business. It's the German way.

Sandwich shops close at lunch time too!

Idiots...

Try the one in Unsöldstrasse in Lehel-Mitte, closed 12.30 - 2 pm, shuts down 5.30pm. In an area chock full of lawyers, hotels and other businesses as well as government offices.

almost every post I have been to here closes for lunch. I went to one today that was closed until 3 (of course I only found that out when I arrived at 2:30)

It's the German service culture at it's best. The one in Putzbrunn closes from 12.30 thru 3. I was less than impressed last week when I went along at 2.30 and found this out.

the post near our office closes 1-3pm, pain in the ass, and that with all the business in the area and doctors offices. But then again, there are 3 banks there too, and they are all closed at lunch too.

Rather oddly out here in bumfuckland our Post Office is open all day, and does not close for lunch. They love me. I am both their best AND their grumpiest customer at the same time.

It's like they enjoy closing at exactly the time that most of their customers would be able to actually get to them.

There is a hardware shop on Rotkreuzplatz. He is open from 9:30 to 12:00, then 14:00 to 17:30, every day except Saturday and Sunday. It's like he really sat down and thought about it, and tried to figure out the perfect times so that anyone that has to go to work cannot buy anything from him.

In Bayern, those two qualities are not mutually exclusive.

Hey, don't all you people realise that Lunchtime is for having lunch, not for hanging around in post offices. You must follow ze rules and do ze correct thing at ze correct time. Mahlzeit!

James...this is the new improved customer service of Deutsche Post - didn't you realise? Didn't always used to be like this though. The post office in the Tierschstr. (nr. Isartor) used to be open right through the day once upon a time but then decided to close from 12.30 - 13.30 to facilitate frustrate all the office/shop staff in the area who wanted to avail themselves of their services. Even the main post office at Hauptbahnhof has shortened it's opening hours so what chance do any of the smaller branches have?!

This looks like a good opportunity to talk about banking hours, too. I cannot understand why they still haven't worked out that the most convenient time for emloyed people to go to the bank is at lunchtime - so what do they do? Close at punkt 13:00, sometimes for the rest of the day.

The post office in Agnesstrasse is open all day. That's probably the next closest to the Theresienstrasse Post along with the one at the near end of Maximilianstrasse.

Sparkasse München shuts 1230-1330, I often go duting my lunch break.
The post office next door is open at lunchtime too.

Why don't people use the tintin to check the different opening times rather than just bitch on TT becasue they didn't?

You mean the one that's been turned into a Käfer almost a year ago?

The tintin comrade?
I don't think it's the issue of not knowing when the bank post office is open, rather the inconvenience (there's that foreign word again) of it being shut during lunch necessitating taking time off work to do your banking or post business.

Tintin = the interwebby thingymajig.

I manage to get to the post office and bank during my lunch break, they are convneiently next door to each other.

Well, I'm not sure when you take your lunch break, but I'd hazard a guess that these institutions are shut during the majority of peoples lunchtimes

The Sparkasse is closed from 1230-1330 so I either go at 1200 or 1330, which are of course totally obscure lunchbreak times right?

A fair bit of our household income comes through as cash and I'd have it at home under the mattress in an old sock if the bank opening times were SO inconvenient which, quel surprise, they are not.

I bet you your ass that if a poll were to be made asking our fair populace here, they'd disagree

1pm is late for lunch in Germany, 11:30am is Mahlzeit-kick off.
Not saying that closing during the day is not inconvenient (as it means that I have to work around their hours, instead of the other way, which is wrong as I am the customer and they are the supplier), but with an earlier start in the day, such as 8am for schools and many businesses, lunch comes earlier too.
Hutcho is right about Josef Forster hardware store at Rotkreuzplatz - great stock, never open when I can get near to it.

If people are starting lunch at 11:30 then they have even more time for the bank and stuff.
they are the figgers who go at th 1500 anyway so they can get to the bank after work.

Timmeh, using TT as an independent polling base on the issue of "convenience" of opening hours is like asking people in the Müllerstrasse if they know any ABBA lyrics!

I never said anything about it being independent, I just think you'd be in the minority here if you believed that the times were convenient among us normal non-hermans. Anyway, opening over this time would benefit everybody, the banks/post, the customers. Win-win.

I'm a normal non "Herman" and I need to get to the bank during opening times fairly reguarly and i work.
I manage it.

I've yet to see a TTer begging in the streets for lack of money or having to burn 500 Euro notes cos they had so many they couldn't pay in to the bank as it was so "inconvnient".

No I know it's not an extreme problem, it's a pain in the ass tho. But it's back to that thing that the Germans have an aversion to: customer service and convenience. You can't deny that having these institutions open when people take their lunch break wouldn't be an improvement in both

I like it how whatever aspect of German life we highlight that is undesirable, someone jumps to defend, usually at some stage it ends with a hissy fight and someone saying "Well if you don't like it then why do you live here?".

Question: What is MORE convenient for customers. A shop that opens 8am to 8pm or one that opens 9.30pm to 4.30 and closes for lunch? Well clearly (unless you are barking mad) it is the former, and therefore by definition the latter is LESS convenient. I don't see how, as a customer you can champion shorter opening hours?? Sure, if you were an employee there might be a discussion - but as a customers it's a no-brainier.

Question: Which supermarket is better. One that sells 1,000 products or one that sells 2,000 products (including all the 1,000 held by the former)? Well clearly (unless still barking mad) the latter with a greater selection is better. You can try some weak arguments about choice being confusing, or having a wooden leg so bigger shops are harder work, but any sane customer will prefer greater choice.

Toytown Germany
Say what you like, just don't question zee status quo.

What about the other factors rather than simply the size of the range?
I can get 10 000 product lines at V Markt I'm sure but its a good 30 minute walk with all the shopping bags on the way back!

Oops, you're quite right - forgot about that little detail


I think this is pretty well the crux of the issue. In my world, if opening/closing hours represent even a minor inconvenience to the customer, then that is already too much, as I don't see why we should have to structure our lives around the quirks of the service provider. Why they can't just stay open all day is beyond me.

It reminds me a bit of Asterix in Britain, where the British army stops fighting each afternoon for tea. My particular bank is even worse, as it not only close for lunch, but is also closed on Wednesday AND Friday afternoon. I'm not calling for 24/7, but 9-18:00 Monday to Friday shouldn't be too much to ask.

Personally, I find that the Deutsche Post has the worst customer service of any German business that I have to deal with. The one in Trudering has a queue out the door everyday after 5pm, until they close. The other day I went to buy two registered mail stamps and forms, the Post lady told me that I can't pre buy them and that I have to come back with the envelopes. Whomever runs the Deutsche Post, has NO concept of SERVICE. Honestly, during the lunch hour is when most working people can go to the post office and is usually the busiest time! The hours are still suited towards an old "working" system where one person in a house doesn't work and can go to the post at the hours that are convenient for the post workers...I would complain, but does anyone at the DP really care???

Errrrrrm so NO postal provider has any idea of service then.
You can't buy "registered" stamps in advance as then the specific letter wouldn't be errrrrm registered.

You have to provide a ready envelope with the adress and the senders address on it.
A numbered stamp is attached to the envelope, you get the numbered receipt and it goes straight over the counter into the system as they are then responsible for it.


Post office is at fault for being busy when it is busy shocker!

[pedant]You can buy the correct amount of stamps depending on size and weight of the letters prior to sending them but you have to be present at the post office to send it certified.[/pedant]