Overview
- Germany had 130 legally required post branches missing in mid-April, down from 160 in September, according to the federal network regulator.
- North Rhine-Westphalia moved in the opposite direction with 23 unfilled required sites in mid-April, which is 10 more than in September.
- A law change now lets self-service Poststation machines count as branches, and 137 of 846 proposed stations had approvals by the end of March, mostly at former gap locations.
- Deutsche Post cites store closures in rural areas for losing retail partners that host counters and says it is working on fixes it describes as temporary.
- Rules require a branch in towns with more than 2,000 residents and, in larger built-up areas, a two-kilometre maximum to the next branch, and the company still operates about 12,400 staffed sites nationwide, above the 12,000 minimum.