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I’m going to mention probably the most impressive daily service in Deutschland: the Post. I became aware of this phenomenon in early December when I requested a free map online. I figured it would arrive in a week or so.
The next day, this map was in my mailbox. And what makes this all the more amazing is that my mail arrives by bicycle.
So. I requested a map and someone, oh, I don’t know, drove the map to Dieburg 5 minutes later, and the postman gave it to the postal delivery guy in the morning, who put it in the basket on his bicycle and drove it to my house.
On another occasion, while shopping an hour north of here, I fell in love with a Christmas decoration. Unfortunately, the display was the only one and it was dusty (in crevices). The shop owner called the Black Forest shop where these arches are made and assured me they would mail me one within two days at no charge. Whaaaaat? Well, we’ll see about that…
And…two days later, a giant, used television box arrived. Inside was another box. Inside that was the shop’s box and my decoration. Two days. Free.
Paul was recently listening to a podcast that mentioned amazon.de and shipping costs. Apparently, they like to try to get you to pay extra for express shipping. The only thing I can imagine more express than the standard German post would be if someone actually crawled out of your computer screen after you received your order confirmation, and handed you your items. Not that I’m discounting Germany’s ability to craft such technology. They’re a pretty industrious people. If a guy with his bicycle basket popped out of your screen, well, that would be awesome.
[…] my mail really is delivered by bicycle (faster than by mail truck in America). Post is also delivered by me if I find a package on the sidewalk and then follow my GPS on foot […]
[…] I’ve actually written about the speed of the German post. I receive my mail faster by bicycle here than by truck in the states. If the phone already was […]