Postal organization

The postal organization is the structure of the post from the Ministry of Post to the smallest post office of the official post.

Development of the postal organization in Germany

The organizational structure of the official postal administration in Germany goes back to the Prussian General Post Office, which was transformed from a department of the Ministry of Commerce and later the Ministry of the Interior into an independent authority in 1823, the administrative structure of which was transferred to the Federal Post Office of the North German Post District in 1868 and to the Reichspost in 1871 which in turn was affiliated to the previously independent Württemberg Post and the Bavarian Post in 1920 . The Deutsche Bundespost also continued this organizational structure - albeit now modified in many details - up to privatization in 1995.

Prussia

On December 16, 1808, the constitution of the highest Prussian state authorities with regard to the internal state and financial administration was changed. The post office was previously subordinated to the Department of Factories and Commerce, but the General Post Office was now assigned to the 1st Department of the Ministry of the Interior (General Police). The technical administration remained independent. As early as October 27, 1810, the General Post Office formed a special department (4th) within the Ministry of the Interior. On June 3, 1814, the postal administration was detached from the ministry and subordinated to the postmaster general. For the time being, control and directing remained reserved for the State Chancellor. With Hardenberg's death on November 26, 1822, the position of State Chancellor remained vacant. The postal administration under the postmaster general von Nagler now became independent and was directly subordinate to the king (Kab. Ordre of April 4, 1823). There was no provincial authority at the time. Each post office was directly subordinate to the General Post Office in Berlin. The head of a post office was the postmaster . The official title of Ober-Postdirektor and Postdirektor were honorary titles for the heads of the post offices at government offices and at the border post offices, but they were without further powers.

The post offices, including the court post office and the upper post offices , were responsible for the correct collection of postage and the calculation of postage . They also had to provide replacements if mistakes were made by subordinate authorities. They mediated the traffic of people, letters, money and parcels on the postal courses and were responsible for the security on these courses. For items of high value, the postmaster was authorized to allow armed men to accompany the mail. In order to monitor the postage, the postmaster or his deputy had to carefully check the incoming and outgoing mail. The postmaster also had to ensure that the items were delivered quickly and correctly.

The post offices were assigned subsidiary post offices. The post office keepers, also called post administrations and post expeditors, were founded in the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm I (1713-1740). With regard to cash and accounting, they were assigned to the nearest post office, but were otherwise directly under the general post office. The administration of the post office was usually entrusted to local residents as a sideline. Occasionally the Stein-Hardenberg administrative reform , which also brought some changes in the constitution of the post office, were given the name Post-Expeditions to the post office staff , without anything being changed in their accounting under the post offices.

The postman had only a relatively small business group to manage. He had to pay compensation for any loss caused by his mistake and therefore had to give a deposit to the local post office . He had to note the arrival and departure times of the post on the time sheet, to enter the items of mail that were coming from the town from the bill of lading in the manual, but only to record the items passing through in summary form to save time. He had to calculate the incoming cards himself and send them to the post office in front of him every day. His duties also included keeping horses and carts ready for the extra items, or at least quick clearance. Relay dispatches were quicker to take care of.

Collections of letters had been set up in smaller towns. As the name suggests, the business circle was limited to the handling of the postman or the delivery of the existing letters to the post office, the collection and delivery of the local correspondence and the calculation of the postage received.

The creation of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Public Works brought the Post Office to this Ministry as the 1st Department, Postal Department. The post of general postmaster was not filled; the minister took over his duties.

May 1, 1849 saw the opening of 8 postal shipping offices; the postal shipping offices operating on the trains were subordinate to them.

Since October 1, 1849, GH Schmückert was the head of the General Post Office and the General Post Director. With him began a reorganization of the postal system, both in administration and in service.

For each administrative district and for Berlin an Ober-Post directorate was set up. All post offices in the district were subordinated to the OPD, only the upper post office in Hamburg remained subordinate to the general post office. This designation was omitted for the other upper post offices. With Official Gazette Order 147 of July 21, 1850, four classes were introduced for the subordinate postal services. The 1st and 2nd class post offices were run by 1st and 2nd class provincial officials entitled to retirement. Third-class provincial officials were designated as heads of the 1st class postal expeditions. The 2nd class postal expeditions were given to local residents. All these post offices settled with the district upper post office. The General-Postkasse in Berlin had been closed as early as 1849. As an exception, the shipping offices were not taken into account in this classification. They were administered on a case-by-case basis on the basis of special orders, with the post director at their head. The heads of post offices 1 received the official title of post director and the rank of higher provincial officials in the fifth class, the heads of post offices II received the title of postmaster and the rank of III. Class of subalterns .

The postal expeditions had now become independent postal agencies, they were directly subordinate to the OPD. The heads of the 1st class postal expeditions were terminable specialist officials with the official title of postal expedition, those of the second class were local residents with the title of postal expeditor. The official designations Post-Speditionsämter and Post-Speditions-Bureaus were renamed to Railway Post Offices and Railway Post Offices in Official Gazette Order 20 of January 29, 1856.

North German Federal Post

At the time of the North German Federal Post Office , this form of organization was retained. The upper management of the postal system was now the responsibility of the Federal President (the only holder of this office was King Wilhelm I ). Under the direction of the Federal Chancellor , the post and telegraph system was administered by the General Post Office and the General Directorate of Telegraphs . The two authorities formed the 1st and 2nd divisions of the Federal Chancellery. The general post office was subordinate to all the upper post offices of the federal government, the upper post offices in Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg with their subordinate post offices.

German Reichspost

Shortly after the establishment of the Deutsche Reichspost , the classification of classes was changed in Official Gazette 3 of May 23, 1871. A subdivision into post offices 1st and 2nd class has been removed. The 1st class postal expeditions became postal administrations. The second class postal expeditions were either converted into postal expeditions or into the new form of the postal agency. Postal agencies had the same tasks and powers towards postal users as other postal agencies, but their operational and cash management were much simpler. The postal agencies were assigned to a neighboring accounting post office for the company association and accounting, as well as in personnel matters.

From January 5, 1875 , the railway post offices were called railway post offices and the railway post offices were called railway posts.

When post and telegraph were merged on January 1, 1876, 1648 telegraph stations (out of a total of 1949) were merged with the local post offices. At the same time it was suggested that the post offices be divided into three classes again. The head of a post office 1. (previously without an addition) was the post director. At Post Office II (previously Post Office) the postmaster was the head and the official title for the head of Post Office III. (previously Post Expedition) was a post administrator.

The telegraph offices were divided up in the same way, insofar as they remained in larger towns. The postal agencies remained unchanged.

These new names were introduced by Official Gazette 10 of January 8, 1876. In correspondence with postal authorities, the Roman numerals were to be used, with private persons and authorities the designation Imperial Post Office or Telegraph Office. The combined offices were called post offices, if several post offices were in one place, they were differentiated by Arabic numerals.

On December 22, 1875, the administration of the post and telegraph system was separated from the department of the Reich Chancellor. Under his responsibility, the management of the administration was transferred to the Postmaster General. He had the powers of a supreme Reich authority. The General Post Office and General Telegraph Office were under his direction, while the OPD acted as a joint district authority.

The postmaster general received the official title of State Secretary on February 23, 1880, and his post office general received the title Reichs Postamt (Reichsgesetzblatt p. 25).

When the rural postal service was reorganized in 1881, post offices were created as a new subordinate class of postal service to support the rural postal service. The post office services handle the delivery of postage stamps and forms as well as the acceptance of normal letters and parcels. Until 1888, no letters were delivered by the post office. The receipt of postal orders , registered mail and items of value was merely a matter of trust between the sender and the owner of the post office, who managed it as an unpaid honorary post.

These post offices did not have the legal status of post offices, had no fixed working hours and were subordinate to a neighboring post office.

Until 1898, all postal workers and employees were required to pay bail. With the Official Gazette Order 19 of February 28, 1898, this deposit obligation was lifted. The official title Reich Post Office instead of “Reich Post Office” was introduced on March 3, 1919.

The state treaties with Bavaria and Württemberg were concluded from March 29 to 31, 1920, so that on April 1, 1920 their previously independent postal service could be transferred to the Reich. A special department of the Reich Postal Ministry was set up in Munich.

With the ruling in the Official Gazette of July 25, 1924 (Vf. 470), the class designation of the post offices was dropped. In their place there was a distinction between offices with large, medium and low business volume, corresponding to the grades of their heads of office who received the official designations existing in these groups. These official titles were Oberpostdirektor, Postdirektor, Oberpostmeister, Postmeister and post administrator. According to the salary regulations of 1920/21 there were seven to eight, after that of 1927 essentially six groups of heads of office.

In order to improve and simplify postal operations in the cities, the administration converted independent city post offices into branch post offices. This regulation later spread to neighboring locations, so that the same organizational situation occurred here as in the relationship with the postal agencies, which were considered to be branches of the accounting post office (later Post Offices II). The evaluation of offices was generally based on the number of posts determined according to the guidelines of 1822 and 1928.

With the increase in postal traffic in the country, the administration created a new class of postal agencies in 1923, the so-called postal agencies with a simpler operation. They were only open some time before the arrival and after the departure of the posts, but generally had the same acceptance powers as the postal agencies with full operation, later they were given the designation Poststelle II, Land.

Post offices have been set up since April 1, 1927. They were set up in connection with the rural postal service in places that were touched by the rural power posts and in which there was not yet a post office. At that time, some post offices were converted, and in some cases they took the place of post agencies when these agencies had lost such importance that their retention could no longer be advocated. The post offices were subordinate to a neighboring post office, the accounting office, but in general had the same acceptance powers as the post offices.

Since April 1, 1934, the OPD has been known as the Reichspostdirektion. On April 1, Department VI of the Reich Ministry of Post in Munich was closed.

After experience had shown that the evaluation of the offices could not be carried out fairly on the basis of the number of posts alone, the administration put new guidelines for the measurement of benefits at the DRP (assessment guidelines) into force on October 1, 1937. Furthermore, on April 14, 1938, she issued guidelines for the evaluation of service posts in the area of the DRP (evaluation guidelines). As a result of these guidelines, all departments were divided into two large groups of offices and agencies. The offices were divided into the letter groups A to I according to the salary groups of their officials. The offices included those administered by lower grade officials. Branch post offices K, L and M, as well as post offices I and II, depending on whether they are post offices with full operation or those with simple operation (post offices), and finally the post offices. In addition, there were Amtstellen II, Stadt to improve the delivery options in the outskirts of the big cities.

The classification of the offices in the individual groups and the regular evaluation of the head of the office were based on the number of points calculated from the points determined for the various employment relationships of the office. As the traffic increased enormously over the years, the local operations in many large cities had to be split up into special letter post and parcel post offices. With the introduction of postal checks and transfers on January 1, 1909, postal check offices became necessary and established.

Federal Post

After the end of the Second World War, the entire postal service in the area of the former German Reich was discontinued by ordinance of the occupying powers. The organizational structure was not changed during the resumption. There were the post offices, branch post offices, post offices I and II and post offices. As special offices, the post office check offices, post office savings accounts (since January 1, 1939) and the workshops of the post office. After the establishment of the Deutsche Bundespost, there were 1594 post offices in Germany. In the following years, in larger cities with several post offices, certain tasks such as parcel handling, mail dispatch, parcel and letter delivery were combined at suitable large offices as part of operational organizational measures. As a result, many post offices became branch post offices with the removal of duties. The number of independent post offices in Germany fell from 1594 in 1946 to 1376 in 1956. These measures were carried out differently by each OPD, which led to great differences in the organizational structure in the individual OPD districts.

To remedy this situation, the Federal Post Office issued the “Guidelines on the Organization of Post Offices (V)” on January 1, 1959. They deal with the tasks, the organic position and the establishment and classification of the post offices and offices, their internal structure down to the offices and the evaluation as well as the procedure for filling senior posts at the offices and offices. With the post offices a distinction was made between the post office with administrative service - Postamt (V) - and the post office.

As an independent office, the post office (V) is a lower federal authority and is headed by a head of office. The designation post office (V) is only used to distinguish between internal business transactions. The post office essentially corresponds to the previous branch post office in terms of its position and function. An operations manager is responsible for service at the post office; as a superior, he is authorized to issue instructions and supervise the staff employed at the post office.

The organizational form and the legal relationships of the post offices and auxiliary post offices and of the post office and auxiliary post office were not changed.

From now on, post offices, post offices and post offices were subordinate to a post office (V) and belong to its area of responsibility. Similar to the Reichspost, the post offices (V) and the post offices are classified into groups based on scores. The post offices (V) are divided into five groups (A - E), the post offices into six groups (D - J). For post offices that only perform the acceptance service, the acceptance post offices, five groups (E - J) are formed.

literature

Matthias, Wilhelm Heinrich: Representation of the postal system in the Royal Prussian States , Berlin, 1817.
Schwarz, Konrad: Time tables on German postal history , Berlin 1935.
Sauter: History of the Deutsche Post , Volume 3.
Steinmetz / Elias: History of the Deutsche Post , Volume 4, Bonn 1979.
Concise dictionary of the postal system , Frankfurt (Main), 1953.