Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has reassured customers that the company has taken the necessary steps to ensure basic postal services throughout Germany continue.
According to DHL, mail and parcel deliveries continue nationwide without operational restrictions, with the large majority of partner outlets and DHL Paketshops remaining open for business. In the last two weeks, more than 90% of letters and over 85% of parcels were delivered to their recipients one day after arriving in the sorting centre.
Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel announced that they have adjusted processes to help protect against infection and ensure continued postal service. To minimise contact and reduce the risk of infection, Deutsche Post DHL’s deliverers no longer require recipients to sign for parcels. As part of a pilot project in the Heinsberg region of Germany, Deutsche Post DHL is collaborating with food retailers to deliver food and other household products to higher-risk households. The service allows people with pre-existing medical conditions, older people or those in quarantine to stay home and avoid the risk of shopping in stores. Deutsche Post also provided special support to local elections in Bavaria, which took place entirely via absentee ballot and despite a delayed handing over of voting documents to the company. At the request of the Bavarian state government, Deutsche Post provided the additional service of a special collection run on Saturday evening so that the last absentee ballots could be delivered to election offices on Sunday.
All Deutsche Post and DHL facilities are required to comply with rules regarding hygiene and person-to-person contact. Delivery employees, for example, are currently working in two different shifts in order to minimise contact. Some 30,000 additional litres of hand disinfectant were also made available to delivery personnel.
In the coming weeks, all delivery vehicles will be equipped with a water canister so that deliverers can wash their hands during their routes. As a precautionary measure, Deutsche Post said that it had produced and stored over 1,000 protective shields for the postal outlets’ counters. Ten days ago, these were sent to the partner outlets and installed. Additional partner outlets are also being gradually being fitted with protective shields.
Source: Deutsche Post DHL Group
