Everything is supposed to be more digital, but Deutsche Post is discontinuing a service that enables letters to be sent and received online. The E-Postbrief was apparently not used to the desired extent and eats up valuable resources. Customers now have to change.
“Experience the advantages of digital mail and make everyday life easier with convenient services.” This is how Deutsche Post describes the E-Post service on its website. But apparently it is not being used the way the company would like it to be. The result: Deutsche Post discontinued e-mail on November 30th. Instead, she refers to what partners offer and advises customers to back up their data.
What is e-mail?
E-Post is a digital service launched by Deutsche Post in 2010. Customers can enter their letters digitally and still send them in paper form. Deutsche Post, as a service provider, prints out the letter, puts it in an envelope and stamps it and then sends it to the recipient. “This is how mail works today!” was therefore the motto with which customers were to be made aware of the convenient and time-saving e-mail service.
Even the costs for e-mail were manageable. In addition to the basic price of 85 cents, there was an additional 10 cents per printed letter page. Heavy letters and more than four pages cost extra. Even registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt can be booked with E-Postbrief.
But there was also criticism of e-mail, above all the fact that sending e-mail letters usually took longer than normal letters and was more error-prone due to the printouts. Customers still had to pay for misprints. In the end, the offer was unsuccessful – in Germany, people prefer to use the usual method instead and still send letters mainly in the classic way.
Also read: Bye bye, postman! Post plans change on delivery
Customers need to take action
As of November 30, Deutsche Post will therefore discontinue the offer for private customers. The company is thus also deactivating the E-Post portal, the app and the E-Post cloud. As a result, customers lose access to their e-mail letters and documents stored in the cloud. Deutsche Post therefore advises you to export the data in good time beforehand. the Export function for e-mail reach customers via the website. Deutsche Post recommends using the browsers Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera.
Deutsche Post refers those who do not want to or cannot do without the offer to the partners GMX or. web.de. Both providers allow a service that is very similar to e-mail, including the digital copy of letters, letter notification and digital letter dispatch.
Also read: Users of GMX and Web.de also receive letters in digital form as a PDF
Despite the end of e-mail, these offers are still available
However, Deutsche Post will continue to offer the E-Postscan service even after E-Post has been discontinued. As part of the service, the service provider intercepts letters, scans them and forwards them digitally to the recipient. Of course, the company guarantees data protection. From December there will be a new portal especially for the service, on which the usual login data will still be valid. Users can find all information on this as well as the general terms and conditions for the E-Postscan, which will apply from December, on the Deutsche Post website.