The sale of customer data
Consumer advocates criticize the way the Deutsche Post has marketed the data gathered
about its customers through catalogue orders, questionnaires, and registrations for
customer cards. In this way, the Deutsche Post has gained access to data about the income,
occupation, family and hobbies of its customers and has sold this information, via a
subsidiary firm, the Deutsche Post Direkt GmbH, to mail-order companies, automobile dealers,
and lotteries.
Progressive withdrawal from the customer area
In the country and
in the suburbs, the Deutsche Post has been closing more and more agencies, and it has
greatly reduced the number of letterboxes, where mail is collected.
Mail service for US soldiers in Iraq
Since 2003, the Deutsche Post has been delivering daily tons of military mail to US soldiers
in Iraq. From Bahrain, the post is flown over dangerous territory to Baghdad, from whence it is distributed.
