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Würselen (dpa) - Deutsche Post DHL is breaking new ground in expanding its vending machine network.
With the “Poststation”, the Bonn-based company started a pilot project on Tuesday in Würselen near Aachen, which aims to expand the previous “Packstations”.
At the yellow box, which has no staff, customers can drop off parcels, frank letters and drop them into an integrated mailbox.
At the end of the month, video advice from customer service staff in Fürth should also be possible on the screen.
The system is an extension of the packing stations, which only deal with parcels and of which there are already more than 6500 nationwide.
The test procedure initially only affects 20 such new stations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The aim is to gain experience of how strong the demand is for such an offer.
Whether postal stations will also be introduced nationwide in the future is still completely open.
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"Especially where there are no branches or only branches with short opening times, the post office can represent a real improvement in service for the people," explained the responsible post manager Holger Bartels.
ATMs made life easier in many places, such as ATMs and ticket machines.
One is “optimistic that the offer of our postal stations will also be well received by our customers”.
At the moment, no parcels can be picked up at the new stations, as is possible at packing stations.
Registration is required for this, which is not yet necessary for the services of the «Poststation» - this will only be added in a few months.
Experts consider the pilot project to be an interesting step.
"This is a consistent further development of the automated offer," said the logistics professor Kai-Oliver Schocke from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.
Above all, the possibility of posting parcels yourself and no longer having to go to a post office should be in great demand in the corona times, which are considered at a distance.
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Other parts of the post office, on the other hand, are “not a big hit, just a bundling of already existing services” - postage stamp machines, for example, have long been around.
Schocke doubts that video advice will be of great interest - most of the information about postage or parcels is available at the machine anyway.
Post branches should not become superfluous with the new machines.
For example, users cannot buy parcel boxes or envelopes there.
And if you want to check whether your letter is too heavy for a certain postage, you cannot weigh it.
Due to the booming online trade, Deutsche Post DHL is doing dazzling business with increasing parcel volumes.
The mail business is shrinking in the Internet age, but it is profitable.
The group has long been using automated stations so that customers can pick up and drop off their parcels around the clock.
The competition is nowhere near as great on this topic.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210216-99-465600 / 2