Caution Customer: Insecure Parcel Stations
Parcel stations are convenient, package reception runs smoothly, but there are risks during shipping and a total loss of a shipment can result in total damage.
With parcel stations, you can not only have goods sent to you around the clock, but also send goods yourself. While receiving packages is usually uncomplicated, shipping via such automated machines carries significant risks.
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At the beginning of 2025, there were about 15.000 yellow DHL parcel stations with lockers; blue variants from Amazon can now also be found at gas stations or shopping centers. Most parcel stations so far have a display and a scanner where you enter your data and scan the QR code of the delivery confirmation for pickup, or enter the recipient's address when you want to send a package yourself.
Digital Parcel Station
Newer parcel stations do without a display, scanner, and printer entirely; communication with them is via app. The entire procedure is purely digital; customers no longer even need to print an address label. Instead, the delivery driver who collects the package from the parcel station is supposed to print the address label and affix it to the package.
Since this can sometimes go wrong, DHL advises including an address label with the package, especially for valuable goods. This way, the shipment can still be identified even if the outer shipping label is damaged or lost.
(Image:Â Statista/DHL Group; Handelsblatt)
Proof of Dispatch
The crucial disadvantage of shipping via a parcel station: Unlike in a branch, where an employee confirms receipt of the package, senders at a parcel station receive at best a digital confirmation via email or in the app.
However, this only proves that a compartment was opened and closed again, not whether the customer actually placed a package inside or what its contents were. Without a qualified proof of dispatch, senders can hardly prove that they handed over the shipment correctly if the package is lost.
For safety, customers should therefore photograph the package sent via the parcel station in the compartment. If the automatic dispatch confirmation from the station does not arrive, they should immediately contact the customer hotline. DHL recommends calling on the same day to have the process documented.
(Image:Â Statista / Deutsche Post)
It is better to hand over valuable or important shipments personally at a DHL branch, recommends c't editor Urs Mansmann. Only the receipt issued there serves as secure proof of handover to the parcel service provider.
Legal Hurdles with Returns
If customers have used a return label from the online retailer for package shipping, additional problems arise in the event of a package loss. In this case, the customer is not the contractual partner of the parcel service, but the company that issued the return label. If the shipment is lost, only the contractual partner can initiate an official investigation and claim any entitlements from the transport insurance.
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In case of loss, parcel services often refuse to investigate. Consumers should then first ask the retailer to initiate the investigation. According to § 241 Paragraph 2 BGB, they are obliged to assist customers with problems concerning the shipping service provider commissioned by them, explains Lawyer Niklas Mühleis on the c't podcast. Alternatively, as the owner of the goods, the customer can demand the return of the goods from the parcel service (§ 985 BGB).
Damages
If the package remains undiscoverable, customers can claim damages according to § 823 Paragraph 1 BGB. However, it can be legally complex to correctly quantify the damage for used or defective devices sent back as returns.
You can read the c't article on the dispute discussed in the podcast here:
Package disappears from the parcel station
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