Packstation supercustomer

Ah, the perfect neighbours .... or the neighbours from hell...

In the past it's always been a major ordeal, receiving a parcel or package, because my lovely neighbours felt that their midday nap was being disturbed when the postman rang and I wasn't at home - something that was quite common at the time.

At some point, I noticed an article on the Internet about the Packstation and thought: there must be something like that near me! After a very short time, a leaflet advertising the service fluttered into my mailbox. Great news indeed - the best invention of the last decade was coming to my area! How fantastic!

After registering (a really easy process), I received my Goldcard through the post and I was able to send and receive parcels and packets without feeling guilty about imposing on the other residents in my block. What a relief!! I love getting up in a morning now and reading the wonderful text message: "There's a parcel for you at your Packstation" - and I love hearing my mobile beep in a morning and seeing the Packstation logo. Friends are now happy to send me parcels and they're amazed that I'm still able to pick them up late at night or on public holidays.

For my birthday, I took a trip to Rugen. A few of my colleagues sent me parcels, and even though I was away on holiday, I was able to look forward to these surprise gifts as soon as I got home, because they stay perfectly happily in the Packstation for up to 8 days. It was a really happy moment when I got back late at night from holiday to simply pick up the parcels quickly and easily from the compartment. So DHL brings happiness and saves you time!

... and what's more, I get on with my neighbours again!

I live in student halls, one of the largest in Hamburg. My 500 "hall mates" engage day after day in bitter parcel warfare that's played out over the hall's e-mail mailing list.

Sometimes, the questions are polite: "Who's taken in my parcel?" or "I've got a parcel here for xy". After about 10 e-mails, particularly vexed students write a somewhat less polite e-mail, going along the lines of: "Which stupid *** has nicked my parcel? It's my Red Cross parcel from mum and it's got my food in it for the next week. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO? STARVE?"

Nicked parcels, missed recipients, parcel thieves, name mistakes and so on are the order of the day. And the worst part is that these parcel dramas are all being played out in my e-mail inbox! There's no escaping from this spam any more.

But when I get an e-mail like that, I'm pleased because I don't have to worry about such things. That's because I'm registered with the Packstation now! I've already written a round-robin mail and told everyone about the Packstation, and some people have actually registered - but some simply prefer to live through stress and strife with parcels that go walkabout. If you want to be lazy, you've got to be smart. That's why I use the Packstation! :)

In the past, birthday or Christmas presents always came to us via the postman. Our son kept his eyes peeled, my husband watched me like a hawk, and I had a right old time with the two curious men in my life. As you can imagine, secrets were impossible to keep.

Sometimes, our postman was clever too and refused to give the parcel to my husband, saying that it was undoubtedly a present for him - which was a great idea, but then it spoiled the surprise.

At least all that's done with now. I can order gifts without worrying and then I can pick them up - in secret - from my Packstation. What a relief - so you see, men don't always have to know everything first.

I wanted to send my granddaughter a teddy bear, so I popped it in a box and sent it via Packstation to my Packstation address.

When I was notified that my parcel had arrived at my Packstation, I took my granddaughter by the hand and told her that Father Christmas had sent a parcel for her. I let her put the card in, I entered my PIN, and look - Father Christmas's compartment opened up and inside was her gift, as if by magic!

She now tells everyone about her fabulous Father Christmas Packstation!

Cycling 850 kilometres through 7 German states without any luggage. How is it possible? The new service from DHL "Packstation" makes it possible.

We began our 10-day cycling tour of Germany on the 11th of September 2005. The tour was based on Packstations. For the first three legs of the journey, our packages were sent the week before our departure. Once we arrived at each stopping-off point, we looked for accommodation and then retrieved our luggage from the Packstation. So then, freshly showered and changed, we could go off on our tour of the city. The next morning, the package containing our best clothes was sent two Packstations ahead and we set off on the next stage of our journey. That meant we were able to cover a further 100 km a day (more or less).

Equipped with only the essentials, wash things and underwear in a kit bag for unexpected overnight stays, we set off on the first stage of our journey on the 11th of September 2005 - to Pforzheim. And indeed, because we didn't set off on that first day until the afternoon, we had to make an unplanned overnight stay in Böblingen. On the second day, we reached Pforzheim, where we stayed overnight in a fantastic former ruined castle that had been converted into a youth hostel. On the next day, we set off late again, but we reached Heidelberg by 5 o'clock, and because my girlfriend spurred me to carry on a bit longer, we actually got to our planned stop-off point of Darmstadt and set off from there the next day via Rüdesheim to St. Goar.

We got a bit of a surprise on the banks of the river there. There was a sign saying: "Boat trips on the Rhine to Cologne". So we spent the whole day amid glorious weather travelling up the Rhine to Cologne, where it rained heavily in the evening. It didn't matter, because we simply had to pick up our clothes from the Packstation and find somewhere to stay the night. The other passengers assured us that that would not be a problem in Cologne. However, that wasn't to be the case. There was a cycling trade fair on in Cologne at the time. Now isn't that ironic? But after a long search and a few tips from locals, we managed to secure ourselves another place to stay the night. As we continued our journey, we reached the cyclist's heaven of Münster. From there we went on to Bremen, Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven more or less on schedule, finally arriving in Hamburg.

En route, we saw countless cyclists weighed down with huge saddlebags on their bikes. After a few pleasantries, we always got asked where our luggage was.

After we heard this question for the third time, we would always smile every time we were asked after that.

All in all, our fantastic holiday covered 1,050 km, 850 of them by bike, 130 by boat and 70 by train. We spent two days looking around Hamburg, and then we set off on our return journey via the night train to Ulm.

I'd just got back from the shops, and as I opened my letterbox a green card fell out. "I wonder what that is?" I thought. When I read "DHL Post" on it, I was a bit astonished - they're normally red! I read it, turned the card over, and I nearly went mad: WHAT? I have to go all the way to Allermöhe in Hamburg, just to pick up my parcel? I live in Harburg, another district of Hamburg, more than 20 km away! Can't they just re-deliver it? I continued reading, and learned that yes, they could, but not until three days after they'd received the reply. Oh no! The package was cat food. My furry friends would starve by then! What's more, it's special food that they need because they're both ill, so it's not as if I can buy it at the pet store round the corner.

Completely enraged, and with the wrong glasses on, I read the phone number. So I called, vented my rage and then heard a nice, cheerful man's voice say politely: "But you don't have to go all the way to Allermöhe. You can just pop round the corner and pick up your parcel - 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The card tells you what to do." So I got my reading glasses, looked at the card and found the address of the nearest Packstation. Packstation??? What? You mean I can go to the Packstation any time and pick up my parcel whenever I want? Wow - I'm going to take a look at that in more detail on the Internet.

Because I wanted to share this excitement with my boyfriend, I waited impatiently for his return. He finally arrived home at about half past ten, whereupon I asked him: "Do you fancy coming with me to pick up a parcel?" He looked at me as if I'd gone mad, and said, "Do you know what time it is?" I gave him a serene look, smiled, and said: "It's no problem. There are Packstations!"

We set off, found the Packstation pretty quickly, and stood there, awe-struck, in front of it. Because I again had the wrong glasses on, my boyfriend did the necessary with the touchscreen and barcode scanner. We heard sounds coming from within the Packstation, which looks a bit like one of those advertising pillars you see on the street, and - ding! - next thing, the bottom compartment opens up and what's there? Our packet of cat food! I'll never forget the look on my boyfriend's face. We were delighted, especially because we'd decided to move from the country back to the city, where there are all these new things that improve your quality of life - and you get them in the city first. Now I'm waiting impatiently for my Goldcard, so that it'll be even easier next time.

This story taught me to read everything very carefully first before losing the plot - because even though you might think the world's all gone mad, sometimes it's actually you that's lagging behind.

At first, I was rather astonished: my father, our granddad, who is 75 years young, has registered to use the Packstation. So when that happens, you start to wonder what prompted him to do it. Until that point, I hadn't activated my Packstation registration, but I'd told him about what I planned to do. And now granddad was quicker off the mark than me, with my sprightly 39 years! He's now got his own Goldcard and PIN!

To be frank, I was curious. Is granddad expecting a parcel? And if so, from whom? He didn't want to tell me, so I turned with my baby bump and left, even more curious.

While I was still thinking about granddad's fascinating determination to try out the 'latest technology', my waters broke: my son wanted to see the light of day.

That evening, I was holding my new son in my arms - and the first visitor to my hospital bed was granddad. In his hands, he held a package!! "Fresh from the Packstation," he smiled, giving me the surprise package. Inside were a gorgeous babygro and a music box. And if granddad hadn't registered in time for the Packstation service, he would have missed the postman's knock at the door because he's hard of hearing.

So thanks to Packstation, granddad was able to surprise his little grandson with a wonderful music box for his birthday, and the smile on his face wasn't just because of the new arrival and his mum, but also because of Packstation, without which this little miracle would never have happened.

I'm going to be registering myself for the PACKSTATION service soon, as soon as my little one gives me a bit more peace... and until then, I'll look forward to visits from granddad, who showed me how important a Packstation can be.

In mid-July, I was staying with a good friend of mine in Cologne. She'd shown me a few of the sights, including the cathedral (which you can't actually miss in Cologne) and the Cologne fireworks show.

The day after the fireworks show, I went back home. I'd borrowed a few books from my friend so I could read a little while I was on the train. At the start of August, I sent the books to her Packstation address and sent a couple of postcards too, because she collects those free postcards you get in bars and stuff.

My friend rang me two days later to thank me for the postcards. She said that she'd received a text message at lunchtime telling her that a parcel had arrived for her, so after work she went and picked it up. Because, as always, she couldn't wait until she got home, she opened the parcel whilst she was still in the car. She put the books to one side, and underneath saw my letter and the postcards. In among the postcards, she noticed that there was one offering the chance to win two VIP tickets for the Madonna concert in Hanover, including travel. Because my friend's a huge Madonna fan, she went straight to the post office round the corner and posted the card. I had to send her another card of course, to replace that one. But it didn't matter, because I know a lot of people who collect these things.

About a week later, my friend rang me and told me in an excited voice that someone had just rung her to congratulate her on winning the two VIP tickets! So as a thank you for the card, she took me with her to the concert.

At the concert, we both thought what a coincidence it all was. My friend looked into it a bit more and noticed that, on the second card I'd sent her, the close of entries and the message that the parcel was waiting for her in the Packstation came on the same day.

If my friend hadn't registered for the Packstation service, and she'd only been able to pick up the parcel from the post office the next day, then she would have missed the closing date and wouldn't have got the date of posting stamp she needed to enter.

Chance, luck or fate - whatever it might have been, we had a fantastic time. What's more, I've recently also registered with Packstation and I've already got my documents (Goldcard, PostNummer, CD-ROM, etc.).

New, at Packstation 108 in Bremen.

The Packstation is situated in front of the entrance to a shopping mall.

A young mother with her baby in a pushchair and a 5-year-old girl holding her hand walk past me.

I slide the Goldcard in, take it out again and enter my PIN. And now I just press the "Open compartment" button.

Suddenly, the little girl is standing next to me and looking at me with huge eyes as a compartment opens, as if by magic, at her eye level - and inside is a parcel.

Her mouth was agape as I took out my parcel and closed the compartment again.

But now she's back in control of herself, and perhaps it's my friendly smile, because then she says, full of determination:

"Grandpa, when I'm big I'm going to be a magician too!"

At that, she turns on her heel and runs back to her mother.

Smiling, and a little thoughtful, I drove home with my parcel.

Until the next time I pick up a parcel at my (surprise) Packstation.

The Packstation team has been amazed by the incredible magical powers of our parcel machines. Even Harry Potter could learn a trick or two from our supercustomers!

It hasn't been very easy lately for my boyfriend and me. At the beginning of the month, my father-in-law died unexpectedly and we fell into a deep hole. We've already been living for almost three years in two different cities. In May, I moved to Munich with work, which is even further away.

Until now, we'd coped with the distances pretty well. But in times like this, it's hard, not being able to be there for each other. Added to this was the fact that I'd just moved into my new flat and, because of everything that had been going on, I hadn't unpacked or anything. I just didn't have the strength or will to make the effort.

Everything was going so well, the new job, a gorgeous new flat. And now this awful event. Why?

During the week, we'd both try and just get on with our work, but at the weekend we'd support and strengthen each other. On one long weekend in Munich, we set up the furniture and emptied a few boxes.

When the post arrived, there was a card in my mailbox. I was to pick up a parcel from the Packstation. We cycled to the main street, and that's where we found the Packstation. After a short and simple interaction with the machine, a compartment opened and a parcel appeared from our friends, who live all over Germany. To cheer us up and to celebrate my new home in Munich, they'd sent us a fantastic parcel!

We were really pleased, and it was so nice to be laughing and sharing happiness again together. Friends are the best thing anyone can have, and sometimes they're also the best medicine.

Thanks to Packstation, we were able to pick up the parcel together, open it together - and enjoy it together. If I'd had to go to the post office the next day to pick up the parcel, I would have had to go on my own because my boyfriend had to leave the evening before. Who knows then whether this parcel would have brought us the same happiness it did. Thanks to Packstation, and of course to our friends, who are always there for us. We've now registered for Packstation and we'll certainly be sending and receiving plenty of parcels.

Best wishes from Munich

The Packstation team is delighted to have helped play a part in delivering this moment of happiness.

It was mid-December 2004, a cold and unforgiving time of the year, a time when the entire family should be sitting around the Christmas tree and you enjoy being with friends and loved ones. At the time, I was living in Hamburg, a long way from my family and friends in Rhineland-Palatinate. It's a 6-hour train journey, some 600 kilometres, and I wasn't able to travel to see my family over the Christmas period due to work commitments! So it was all set to be a lonely Christmas.

So I made the best of it I could and organised my own little Christmas. Tasty wine, great food with different antipasti, candlelight - everything I needed to treat myself and not think about home on Christmas Day.

Then I received a text message with the information: "A packet is waiting for you". At first I was completely confused, and I really couldn't for the life of me think who would be sending me anything. It really had me puzzled, and I was going round and round in my head trying to work out who it might be.

I slid my customer card into the bright yellow box, entered my PIN and waited excitedly for the compartment to open. One tug, and I had a giant, heavy package in my hands. A parcel from my family!! I couldn't believe it, and I was so excited about what was inside:

There were several little gifts from my brothers and sisters, a bottle of sparkling wine to crack open and lots of home-made goodies. I couldn't fight back the tears as I held the card, with all their signatures, in my hands. But then, the telephone rang too, and it was the whole family singing a Christmas carol to me in the background. I just dissolved into tears - of happiness.

I'll never forget this Christmas. It's definitely one of my most wonderful experiences, and it just shows you yet again that family is the most important thing you can have.

And the best thing about it was that Packstation made the whole thing possible!"

The Packstation team wishes everyone a Happy Christmas! After all, it's only a few months away. Maybe you should start thinking about buying Christmas presents soon! (But you'd be better leaving the mince pies until December).
Then you can treat your friends and relatives for Christmas, too! A gift from the Packstation is sure to give them a wonderful surprise.

Because we have something sent to our Packstation so often, I never really thought much about it when I read an e-mail at work telling me that there was a parcel waiting for me to collect. I spoke to my husband, and neither of us knew what it could be, so I said I would go and pick it up after work. My husband had customers visiting, so he didn't have time.

So when, at around 5 o'clock, I arrived at the Packstation to pick up my parcel, I was more than a bit surprised when one of the biggest compartments opened up. Inside was a huge box. Not without a bit of a struggle, I heaved the box out of the compartment and loaded it into the car. Undisturbed, I settled myself on the back seat of the car and opened the box. Inside I saw a giant basket lovingly filled with good food and delicious wine. Right at the top there was a card, which I opened right away.

"My darling, you often say I don't give you any romantic presents, and you complain that I'm completely unimaginative. You were right. After our argument, I thought things over, and I really wanted to surprise you. Every day, when I open the door at night and see you, I see my reason for living. Each morning, I get up and go to work, only so that I can spend the evening with you after a long, hard day. No words can express how I feel about you. I'll never let you go, and I'll try to be the best husband you could ever wish for. You're everything to me. And even that isn't enough to express just how much you mean to me. I love you to the moon and back, to borrow your beautiful little phrase. And now, drive along to our favourite place. There's somebody there who wants to see you! See you soon, darling"

Moved to tears, I could barely speak. Completely dumbfounded, I sat there in the back seat. I couldn't believe it. This sort of thing only happened in films. In Hollywood, but not here. Not to me.

Once I'd wiped my nose and dried my tears, I started to think, where IS our favourite place, exactly? I couldn't think of one ... I couldn't really get my head round anything. I'd been knocked for six, and I didn't know what to do. After the high came the low. What did he mean? After thinking for another 5 minutes, I went home, annoyed.

I left the picnic basket in the car and went up the stairs. For a minute, I thought that's what he'd meant - that I should go back to the house. But the house door was locked, and so I discarded the idea.

But when I walked into the living room and saw the table, all laid out, I knew exactly what my husband had meant. Our favourite place is of course our home. We often say it, and now it came back to me.

I looked over at the sofa, and there he lay. He had the remote control in his hand. He was sleeping. I suddenly found myself laughing. Life goes on as normal. In a film, he'd have been sitting at the table with a rose in his hand. But that's just what I meant ... we're not in a film, and ultra-romantic gestures belong only to Hollywood. But I love my husband just the way he is. I was still very happy, and it was a very successful evening! Life might not always live up to my dreams, but it comes damned close!!

Very best wishes

The Packstation team is delighted to know that our service was able to contribute towards an (almost) perfect evening. (And we're also very relieved that truly dreamlike moments are mostly the preserve of movies - otherwise we'd have to start having serious worries about our private lives!)

Well, let me explain what happened. I've been a satisfied Packstation Goldcard owner for a few months now, and I think the service is great, not having to be tied to the business hours of our local post offices. My girlfriend isn't quite so much of a geek as me, and wasn't quite as enthusiastic about Packstation as I was. She must have realised, however, in recent weeks, how handy it is when you get a text message and you can go and pick up your parcel from the machine at half past nine at night, because she asked me the address you need to use to have a package sent to the Packstation of your choice. I didn't think much about it at the time, but I wrote the address on a slip of paper.

A few weeks went by, and at the end of last month, I got some bad news: "my" company, the one I'd worked like a dog for 17 years for, was making me redundant due to restructuring measures. The issue of unemployment, and the fear of it, became a huge one for me from that point forward. For the first time in my life, I had to go to the job centre. I rang round every last one of my contacts to try and find myself a new job. But virtually all of my acquaintances turned me away with "we're undergoing restructuring ourselves at the moment", or similar words of encouragement. I had already told my closer friends about my redundancy, but I didn't exactly want to shout the news from the rooftops.

On Friday of last week, I received a text message telling me that there was a package waiting for me to pick up at the Packstation. I'd ordered a couple of things, but I was surprised at the speed of the delivery - it was only Thursday that I'd ordered a book on application strategies from buecher.de.

So I went to the machine after work, put the Goldcard in, entered my PIN, the compartment opened and a package appeared that was definitely not from any bookseller. It had little hearts on it.

I took it to the car and opened it straight away, and inside was a little plush heart with the inscription "You and me, together, we can do it. I love you. Your mouse". And with it was a letter.

I opened it, and there, written on a business notepad, were the words: "Dearest Günther, I heard about the terrible goings-on at your company. So I made a few phone calls, and took the liberty of forwarding the documents that S. [my girlfriend] had given me to my friend H., who is desperately looking for IT professionals like you for his own company. And he'd like to invite you to come and talk to him in person about the details of your contract next week. Now, you can go on that hard-earned holiday with S. and the kids. We'll celebrate your new job when you come back. With best wishes, your friend M." (My friend, a high-ranking manager with a company completely unrelated to IT, who I'd never even dreamed might have a job for me).

I was, to use the vernacular, gobsmacked. I could have just kissed the Packstation right there! Instead, I raced home and gave the kiss to the lady who'd arranged this incredible surprise. I'll remember the middle right-hand compartment of Packstation 102 for the rest of my life.

Best wishes

On Thursday of last week, I went to pick up a parcel from my Packstation in the main station, as I often do. Everything went fine, I had my parcel in my hand, and I was about to set off for home.

Then I saw a message slip from the DPD (German Parcel Service) stuck on the Packstation. They'd evidently tried to deliver a parcel to a Mr. Jost, but evidently with limited success. But then came the punchline: "Because we were unable to catch you today, we'll come by again tomorrow between 8 and 10" ;).

Whether Mr. Jost was there to pick up his package, nobody knows ...

The Packstation team thinks this a bit of a tall tale, and so we'd like to reiterate that there's a reason why we write the huge, red letters "DHL" on the Packstation, and not "DPD".

In December 2004, there was a campaign by Packstation.de where Packstation subscribers could win cinema tickets for Bridget Jones II - The Edge of Reason, in the Mainz Cinestar cinema.

I was lucky enough to win one of those tickets, and I was also allowed to take along a friend of my choice. I took my friend S. The Packstation team provided us with popcorn and cola, and we waited in the cinema café for the film to start.

While we were there, we met an acquaintance of mine, M., whom I hadn't seen in ages. While we were chatting, I noticed he was far more interested in my friend than he was me ... When the time came to go into the auditorium, we said goodbye and started looking forward to the film.

But then, right next to my friend, in a packed auditorium, sat my acquaintance. Unfortunately, the two forgot to exchange mobile numbers.

As chance or fate would have it, I bumped into him again a few weeks later and I took down his number right away, so I could pass it on to my friend S. 

And so, the inevitable happened: they fell completely in love, and I'm just counting the days until they get married.

And it all came about thanks to the Packstation campaign!

Best wishes,

The Packstation team would of course be happy to accept an invitation to the wedding, if and when it takes place. Or perhaps that might be asking a bit too much after all. Julia, keep us updated, because we'd definitely be happy to pay for the bride's bouquet.

Oh, and if anyone's wondering, we do actually invite our customers from time to time to places such as the cinema to mark various events. But to be invited, you need to have given us your consent when you registered, otherwise the law forbids us from contacting you. If you haven't done this, you can fix it anytime here (Just put a tick in the box right at the bottom).

I've been a Packstation customer for quite a while now, and I like using it to send packages and parcels. Until now, however, I've always had my own parcels sent to me at home. It was simply more convenient. The mail-order companies and online dealers always want your address anyway, and some don't even offer the Packstation service. So I simply had everything sent to me.

And so it was one day that I had my girlfriend's birthday presents sent to me. However, I've got a very inquisitive girlfriend who simply can't leave parcels that arrive from unknown senders alone, shaking them to see what's inside.

So of course, inevitably, my surprise was no longer a surprise and in fact, to my surprise, one of the gifts actually got broken because of her shaking.

Now I've switched everything and all my surprises and gifts get delivered to the Packstation. I can pick them up in secret and the surprise stays exactly that - a surprise! I've also told her relatives about it, and now almost all our acquaintances send her gifts to the PACKSTATION. Sure, the drama ahead of the birthday or Christmas event is hard work ("Oh, nobody's sent me anything this year"), but on the day itself, I'm able to surprise her with a bundle of presents.

It also works brilliantly for children, especially with really obvious gifts like a rocking horse (because of its shape) or Lego (easy to rattle). Thanks to the Packstation, I can pick up all these gifts whenever I want without arousing suspicion, and when the surprise comes at the right time, it's all the more exciting!

Frederik Roth shows us how easy it is to send things from a Packstation. Congratulations to our new supercustomer.

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Congratulations to Stefan Leske, our supercustomer of the month, who's delighted about the Packstation!

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Benjamin Schunke, Bastian Maneke and Florian Hartmann have showcased the benefits of Packstation in a short video clip.

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