The current Postal Act from 1997 stipulates that the postal service must deliver all letters within one working day. This even applies to letters from Flensburg to Berchtesgaden or from Aachen to Frankfurt/Oder. To bridge the long distances, the postal service has so far used aeroplanes that connect Stuttgart and Munich in the south with Hanover and Berlin in the north at night.
A new postal law is coming into effect on 1 January 2025. According to this law, 95% of all letters must be delivered within three working days. However, the postal service is already cancelling night flights at the end of March and shifting letter transport to lorries. You should therefore be prepared for letter delivery times to increase significantly in the near future. The shift to lorry transport is also intended to reduce CO2 be saved. The Post Office has not yet disclosed how many lorries the three aircraft are expected to replace.
In addition, standard letters are to be replaced by eco and priority letters with different delivery times and postage rates. Many other countries already have a two-tier letter delivery system. Whether the postal service will be able to deliver priority letters without using aeroplanes at all remains to be seen. However, it will probably not be quite as nostalgic as our little picture suggests. Even though mounted postilions naturally produce even more CO2 could save *end of satire*.
Further sources:
https://www.bmwk.de/Redaktion/DE/Artikel/Service/Gesetzesvorhaben/novelle-des-postgesetzes.html
https://www.paketda.de/news-briefe-langsamer-nachtfluege.html
