In Germany the postal and telephone services are not run by the state any more but have been privatised. The Deutsche Post is responsible for letters and parcels, Deutsche Telekom for telephones and cable television, and DeTeMobil for mobile communications. Finally, the Postbank administrates the postal banking service. Ever more companies are entering the market and these sectors will undoubtedly see a lot of changes in the coming years.

Mail Services

You can recognise a post-office and mail-box by the yellow sign with a black post-horn. Post-offices always have the same opening hours, usually from 8 or 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening. Many close at midday. The main post-offices in large towns maintain a service at night, at the weekend and on public holidays. Within Europe you pay € 0.55 for a standard letter up to 20 grams and € 0.45 for a postcard. Overseas post is sent airmail. You can find out what other letters and parcels cost by asking at the counter or reading the brochures available at the post-office providing an overview of charges (Gebührenübersicht). Or visit http://www.deutschepost.de. [Preise für Neuseeland]

Parcels are handed in at the parcel counter. Within Germany postal-codes can be found in the Postleitzahlenbuch (Directory of Postal-Codes) produced by the German Federal Post-Office.

Telekom Services

Public Telephones
You can ring any number you like in Germany or abroad from any telephone box. However, to some countries there is no direct dialling, you have to ring the exchange first under 0010 and ask to be connected. In most public telephone boxes it is also possible to be rung back; there should be a sign with the number. A local call from a public call box during the day costs € 0.12 for 1 1/2 minutes. Tariffs for calls abroad vary according to distance and time of day. Payphones have become fairly rare, most public call boxes are card-phones. You can buy a card for € 6 or € 25 at the post-office. The Telekom’s Weltkarte (T-card) or the postal-bank cards with integrated telephone chips enable you to ring within Germany and to 50 other countries; the charges will be debited from your account directly. In larger post-offices you will find copies of all the telephone directories for all the regions of Germany. But you can also ring directory enquiries any time to find out numbers in Germany and abroad: for national enquiries dial 01188, and for international enquiries 00118. In the Yellow Pages you can find the numbers of doctors and other occupational groups, while on the first few sides there are numerous important telephone numbers of institutions (listed under Rat und Hilfe – Advice and Help). Important telephone numbers: Emergency: 110 (police), Fire Brigade: 112 (emergency medical services and ambulance).

Private Telephones
A new connection always involves waiting, so it is advisable to take over the telephone from the previous tenant when you move in somewhere. You can get both the relevant application forms at the post-office or in the Telekom’s telephone shops in your town. The connection entitles you to an annual edition of the telephone directory, the Yellow Pages, the dialling code directory, the directory of charges and a one-off copy of the directory of postal-codes. Apart from the charges for telephoning you have to pay a standing charge per month according to the type of telephone you have (with or without a charge metre etc.). The easiest way is to have your monthly telephone bill on direct debit from your account. So far telephone bills are not itemised in the way they are in some other countries. If you need proof of a call you want to make you will have to make it at the post-office and register it with the staff there.