Mail boy

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Postjungboten (abbreviation: Pjb ) were junior employees for the simple postal service in Germany. They were candidates for civil service . Post boys were hired for the first time in 1931. It was recognized as a training occupation in 1959 and replaced in 1979 by the service specialist in the postal service.

history

The career regulations of July 1, 1922 for the first time provided for the recruitment of postal apprentices for the lower (later simple ) postal service. You should have official qualifications, be at least 16 but not over 17 years old and after two years of successful preparation you should be appointed to the post of auxiliary post conductor (HPSch) and later be employed as a post conductor (Psch). However, this intention was not initially realized. When, over time, the personnel and operational conditions made the demand for a young, well-trained offspring of civilian candidates for the lower / simple postal service more and more urgent, the then Reich Ministry of Post opened a special career for such workers in 1931.

The young candidates , who were to be recruited immediately after their discharge from elementary school , were given the designation “Postjungbote”. The name should be used to express the technical designation and at the same time the young age of the candidates. The previously planned designation “post-office apprentice ” was not adopted because “ apprentice ” generally referred to the next generation for manual, commercial and similar professions. The post office boys should be identified from the outset as civil servants, even if they were not entitled to be accepted into the civil service.

Likewise, it was refrained from requiring the entry age of 16 to 17 years of age set for postal apprentices in 1922, in particular in order to prevent suitable candidates from turning to other professions in the period between leaving school and the earliest possible employment.

The employment relationship of the Postjungbote was laid down in the "Regulations on the employment relationship of the Postjungbote (young civil servant candidates)". After that, the post office boys were candidates for officials without official status. The post-boys' time lasted three years and was purely a learning period. In 1939 it was reduced to two and a half years due to the start of the war, but after 1945 it was increased again to three years.

In the last month of the learning period, the employment offices had to ascertain the knowledge of the Post Jungboten in a suitable manner and to report to the Oberpostdirektion about the result, the achievements and the qualifications, the official and off-duty management etc. of the Post Jungboten, enclosing a certificate . This decided whether the persons concerned were suitable for being accepted into civil servants or whether they should be dismissed. The mail cubs were informed of the result.

Post boys who were found to be suitable were accepted into the civil service as auxiliary post conductors when the opportunity arose - but not before the age of 17 - and, given satisfactory official and off-duty management, later hired as post conductors.

The upper post offices, also in Bavaria and Württemberg , were allowed to employ young mail carriers from 1931. In 1931 and 1932, 580 post boys were allowed to be employed. From 1933 up to and including 1938, only around 350 young postmen were hired each year. The recruitment figures for post office boys were kept so low at that time because the civil servants of the lower / simple service (like until the introduction of the post office boy career) basically continue to be supplemented by pension candidates and proven, not over 35 years old post office workers (post office box workers) the proportion of positions held by members of the pension scheme should, if possible, not be reduced. In 1939 the number of people accepted rose again due to the Second World War.

  • 1931: 580
  • 1932: 580
  • 1933 to 1938: 350 (annually)
  • 1939: 3300
  • 1940: 4090
  • 1941: 3642
  • 1942: 3721
  • 1943: 4194
  • 1944: Unknown (it can be assumed that there were at least as many hires as in the previous year.)

After the Second World War the following was discontinued in the area of ​​what would later become the Deutsche Bundespost :

  • 1945: 853
  • 1946: 842
  • 1947: 1656
  • 1948: 1847
  • 1949: 1087
  • 1950: 1475
  • 1951: 1779
  • 1952: 2211

This results in a total of over 38,000 hired post boys.

  • ... 
  • 1975: approx. 2000, in the area of ​​the OPD Hamburg there were about 160 of them

There were mail cubs until 1979.

In 1949, in line with the other careers, for which an examination was required to complete the training and an examination certificate was issued, an examination and the issuing of a diploma were also introduced for the post boys after the end of their learning period.

Employment relationship

The employment relationship of the post office boy was also regulated in the 1950s by the "Regulations on the employment relationship of the post office boy", which has been supplemented and changed several times according to the circumstances. Well-reputed young people of German nationality were then employed as post office boys. You must have completed elementary school education, but may not have any further education. When recruiting, they should be 14 years of age if possible, but not over 15 years of age. They must be perfectly healthy and sufficiently developed for their age.

The training period was set at three years (as of 1953), but in 1956 at the latest it was shortened to two and a half years. It should be purely a learning time and is - while consciously avoiding the term apprenticeship time - referred to as learning time. The first three months of the study period were considered a trial period. From the first to the third year of the apprenticeship, the Postjungboten received an annual increase in monthly remuneration or, if they were accommodated and cared for in homes or elsewhere at the expense of the Deutsche Bundespost, monthly pocket money set at different levels in the individual years of study. Post boys who did not return to the place of residence of their legal guardian on a daily basis and were also not accommodated and fed at the expense of the post office received a monthly maintenance allowance in addition to the remuneration. The post office youngsters living outside the place of work were reimbursed for the use of public transport to travel between place of work and place of residence. If public transport could not be used and the route had to be covered on foot or by (own) bicycle, a lump sum compensation was provided if the one-way distance was more than four kilometers.

Travel costs were reimbursed for attending vocational schools outside Germany. Any school fees were also borne by the Bundespost. The post office boys had to procure learning materials at their own expense.

Post boys who were employed more than 100 km from the place of residence of the legal guardian were given four times free time during the holiday year for family journeys under certain conditions. In addition, the Postjungboten were entitled to vacation leave with continued payment of the remuneration in each vacation year.

The Postjungboten were not subject to sickness , disability or unemployment insurance and could not become members of the Deutsche Bundespost pension fund . They were insured against accidents according to the Reich Insurance Code. The post boys were members of the Post Office Health Insurance Fund ; their contributions were taken over by the Bundespost. They were also full members of the Postal Clothing Fund .

During the learning period, they were only allowed to work as full workers in certain exceptional cases according to guidelines drawn up by the Federal Post Office outside the framework of the training regulations. You then received an additional daily lump sum.

The training course of the post boys was set in a special training plan. In the last part of their training, the post boys took part in a service course at a post school. After the two-and-a-half-year learning period, the post office youngsters were accepted into the civil servant status as postman candidates (PSchAw), provided they were suitable for the appointment in terms of health and their overall behavior. As such, they had to do a six-month preparatory service and at the end of it had to take the exam for the simple postal service. The examinees were informed in writing of the result of the examination, which was added to the personnel files, and a final certificate was issued.

If the oral or written part was inadequate or unsatisfactory, the examination could be repeated within a period of at least three and a maximum of six months. Insofar as the examinees are not sufficient in the repetition, they had to retire from their previous employment as postmen.

After the end of the learning period and passed the exam, the post boys were employed as auxiliary post conductors in the V. (in the preparatory work ), later “apl Psch” (extraordinary post conductor) taken on as civil servants if they were suitable for it in terms of health and overall behavior. After six months, they were appointed unscheduled officials - auxiliary mail conductors. However, the unscheduled period of service and the diet seniority began at the earliest on the day following the day after reaching the age of 20. In the case of satisfactory management and off-duty management and sufficient performance, the HPSch, if they also meet the health requirements, are employed as scheduled post conductors within the framework of vacant positions - but not before the age of 22.

In the simple service there was then the promotion to postman or clerk. Furthermore, there was the possibility of promotion to the middle service as an assistant, separated into post and telecommunications service on the one hand and technical telecommunications service on the other hand, after passing the assistant examination.

activities

Post boys delivered letters and parcels. They sorted the consignments that were posted and prepared for delivery. Letters, direct mail and parcels were distributed, loaded, handed over and taken over and ensured that they were forwarded. They were on foot, by bike or in a company vehicle. If they delivered cash on delivery items, they collected fees or had registered mail acknowledged. They also accepted items at post offices, handed out items and sold postage stamps or packaging material.

Well-known mail boys

  • Joachim Wiesensee (1935–2009), post boy from 1950 to 1953. Later from 1986 to 2003 member of the Lower Saxony state parliament.
  • Kurt van Haaren (1938–2005), post boy from 1953 to 1955. Later from 1982 to 2001 chairman of the German Postal Union (DPG).
  • Horst Jungmann (politician) (* 1940), post boy before 1958. Later member of the Bundestag from 1976 to 1994.
  • Rolf Büttner (* 1949), post boy in Hamburg. Later, from 2001 to March 2007, he was a member of the federal executive committee of the United Service Union (ver.di) and head of the postal services, freight forwarding and logistics department.
  • Walter Scheurle (* 1952), post boy at the post office in Schwäbisch Gmünd 1967. Later: From 2000 to 2012, Group Board Member for Human Resources and Labor Director of Deutsche Post AG.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official Gazette Order No. 76/1922
  2. ^ Order IV / VI Q 36 of January 27, 1931
  3. ↑ a b Concise dictionary of the postal system; 2nd Edition; P. 530
  4. ^ German Bundestag - 7th electoral term; Printed matter 7/3364 of March 13, 1975; P. 4 PDF file
  5. ↑ Official Gazette Order No. 244/1949
  6. ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 1st supplement to the 2nd edition; P. 87
  7. ↑ a b Concise dictionary of the postal system; 2nd Edition; P. 531
  8. ^ Karl Sautter : "History of the Deutsche Post - Part 3 - History of the Deutsche Reichspost - 1871 to 1945"; P. 344