The shops are closed, but the internet never closes. Since the beginning of the pandemic, orders have been made for all of them, and the demands on Germany’s parcel services are increasing. Last spring, the logistics company Hermes, for example, recorded an increase in volumes of up to 40 percent. DHL is also talking about delivering around 40 percent more parcels than last year.
To do justice to all of this, new staff is needed. In times of the pandemic, secure jobs in the postal industry are more popular than ever. The Berlin parcel and letter service PIN, for example, received more than 10,000 applications last year, a new record. The offer can be tempting especially for those who have to look for a new job due to the consequences of the pandemic.
The Deutsche Post subsidiary DHL hired 4,000 additional employees nationwide during the first lockdown. Press spokeswoman Tina Birke says that we are still looking for new employees – especially in the Berlin and Brandenburg region. Around half of the newcomers here come from non-branch professions.
Alexander Schmidt is one of these newcomers. The 44-year-old has been working as a parcel delivery service at DHL since November 2020. The trained carpenter is not changing his profession for the first time. After a second commercial apprenticeship, he worked as a fitness trainer and was most recently employed as a service employee at the Potsdamer Spielbank.
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“There were highlights especially when particularly large sums were paid out,” says Schmidt. He was then allowed to carry the money on a tray to the winning player at the machine: “I liked the job to be able to make people happy.” But over time, the work became difficult for him. Late shifts into the early hours of the morning threw him out of his rhythm, he got insomnia and headaches. Even before the pandemic, he flirted with an application to DHL. “The crisis gave me the last push, so to speak,” says Schmidt.
Today he speaks of “luck in misfortune”. What he particularly appreciates about his new life as a delivery person is the clear working hours and the high level of movement. “I try to take the stairs as often as possible,” says the former fitness trainer. “In addition, I’m my own boss on the tour.” Schmidt could one day use his commercial experience to reach the next career level at DHL and switch to back office. For now, however, as in the casino, he is happy about happy faces. Now it’s the packages with which he can make people happy, he says.
Sandra Haase no longer saw a future in the restaurant
The newly hired delivery person Sandra Haase also appreciates contact with other people. From March 2020, she initially worked part-time at DHL before moving fully to the logistics company on December 1. The 30-year-old found her way to the job of delivery person from the restaurant of a federal ministry where she had worked. “What I miss a little about my old work,” she says, “are the big events.” It was nice when people drove home satisfied after a wedding or birthday dinner. Haase sometimes served state guests, prepared duty rosters, wrote offers and took care of menu sequences. In mid-March, however, the restaurant had to close due to the corona. At the end of March she started short-time work. “Staying at home wasn’t an option for me in the long run,” says Haase.
With the new job, not only structure has returned to her everyday life. She was also able to bring her income back to the old level. When she was finally about to be laid off in the restaurant, she seamlessly switched to full-time employment at DHL.
The working routes change frequently, especially with the new deliverers. Most of the time, however, Haase carries out in Frohnau, Hermsdorf, Glienicke or Hennigsdorf. “I like to be in these quieter areas and the fresh air is good for me,” she says. She is not afraid of being infected: “The contacts are short and I always wear one FFP2 mask. “Haase used to have to work more or less spontaneously until the middle of the night and cancel appointments with friends. The new job has now put an end to that. “It’s a different attitude towards life that I can now make a binding date,” she says.
The empty airports offered Milena Miethling no perspective
A lot has changed for Milena Miethling as well. Until the beginning of the pandemic, the trained service clerk worked at the Berlin airports in Tegel and Schönefeld. As a check-in agent, she supervised passenger handling and was available at check-ins and ticket counters in the terminal. “Actually everything went great,” she says, “we always had a lot of business.” But then the virus arrived – and with it the short-time work.
Miethling was only rarely called to Schönefeld Airport. The mood there depressed her: “It tore my heart to see how empty it was at the airport.” At some point she realized that it wasn’t going to get better anytime soon. A new perspective was needed.
Now Miethling is being trained to supervise a new mega parcel center in Ludwigsfelde. What she particularly likes about the job is the close exchange with the employees. “As in Schönefeld, there are all sorts of nationalities,” she says. “I find that exciting.”
While conventional centers – such as the Börnicke parcel center in the north of Berlin – sort around 32,000 items per hour, in Ludwigsfelde it should soon be 50,000. Miethling is looking forward to the new challenge. Also because the way to work will be much shorter. “At the moment I’m on the road for around two hours a day,” says Miethling. Miethling has no doubt that the move was worth it. Her husband Mirco Miethling, a technician who previously waited for Lufthansa aircraft, has also found a job with DHL. He will make sure that the sorting machines run in Ludwigsfelde. Milena Miethling is convinced: “It couldn’t have gone better for us at this time.”
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