In the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Post, the Verdi union has called for nationwide strikes. Verdi announced that workers in all letter and parcel centers have been on strike since 5 p.m. and all day on Friday. More strikes are expected to follow in the coming days.

At Deutsche Post DHL, the collective bargaining conflict is coming to a head. Now there is a strike across the country. In the second round of negotiations for the around 160,000 collectively agreed employees, there was no progress in Cologne. “Employers have made it very clear that they are not prepared to compensate for the loss in real wages and inflation,” said Verdi negotiator Andrea Kocsis. However, Verdi considers the demands to be “necessary, fair and feasible”.

The union demands 15 percent more money for a contract period of one year. Kocsis emphasized that the majority of Verdi members at Swiss Post have a low income and cannot cope with real wage losses. “The fact that employers refuse to compensate for real wage losses is a provocation in view of the billions in profits of the group. The employees in the companies will now give a clear answer to this and reinforce their demands with strikes.”

But how should customers behave if important letters are not delivered to them. FOCUS online lists the most important points.

Senders are free to decide which provider they choose to deliver the letter. In addition to Deutsche Post, there are many regional private providers. These include BW Post, CitiPost, RPV Briefservice, Post Modern, LVZ Post, Mittelhessen Mail, LMF Postservice, Saarriva, Brief und mehr, biberpost, Nordbrief, PinMail and others.

In many cases, however, tax offices, authorities or associations use the Deutsche Post service. If you have not received a letter on time and you are now threatened with consequences, contact the sender and explain to them that they have to prove the punctual delivery by means of tracking.

Because many do not use this paid service, there is a good chance that you will not face any consequences in the event of a dispute.

You usually have two weeks to pay bills.

As a gesture of goodwill, this period is often extended by a few days. If Swiss Post has not delivered an important invoice and you receive the document late (together with a payment reminder and a first reminder), you must act quickly.

File an appeal immediately and inform the sender of the delivery delays at the post office.

In this case, you should contact a lawyer. Otherwise you will have to pay in an emergency. Swiss Post is not liable for this.

You can only hope for the goodwill of the sender. If the post was slow and you missed a deadline, an offer or a job posting, that’s just bad luck.

Swiss Post is not liable in this case either.

Whenever possible, use email and other digital means to send important documents.

Check whether private letter mail companies are suitable for you.

If you need to send a letter, book the “Registered mail with tracking” function.

Apply for a job advertisement exclusively digitally by e-mail or fax.

Register online with energy suppliers, mobile phone providers or telecommunications service providers. You can then view invoices in your member area and also receive payment requests by email.

Contact your landlord or the property management and have any annual accounts sent to you by email in addition to the postal delivery.

Complain to the Federal Network Agency. The online form is hidden (at the bottom) on this page.

Otherwise, you can also send the complaint to the authority by letter. Will this arrive on time? Questionable.