POSTSCAN questions and answers

General information and costs

Applying the highest security standards, we'll digitalize your physical incoming mail indefinitely or for a specified period and deliver it to your account in the Deutsche Post shop under "Meine Sendungen" (My items) every working day. 

Once a month, we'll put your accumulated original documents in an envelope and send them to you at your receiving address or at any other address specified by you.

With POSTSCAN, your mail will reach you quickly and reliably, no matter where you are, and you don't even have to empty your mailbox. You can read your mail online anywhere and react to important items without delay. 

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POSTSCAN is a fee-based service of Deutsche Post.

  • There is a one-time fee of EUR14.99 to set up POSTSCAN. The setup fee includes the first month of use.
  • The POSTSCAN monthly subscription costs EUR14.99 for each month or part of a month. The monthly subscription begins with the second month of use.
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To use POSTSCAN, first you need to register under "Postscan" in the Deutsche Post shop because we'll deposit your digital items under "Meine Sendungen" (My items) in your account there. Please expect it to take about 7 days from your order to your first digital delivery since your address still needs to be verified by AdressTAN and then you have to specify your start date. This registration is free of charge. 

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POSTSCAN is a service provided exclusively for private customers.
You can find more information about E-POSTSCAN for business customers here.

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During the period for which you have ordered POSTSCAN, we'll collect your incoming mail with the receiving address you provided and digitalize all postcards and regular letters before physical delivery and send them as digital messages to your POSTSCAN customer account in the Deutsche Post shop under "Meine Sendungen". 

The items listed below can be scanned and are displayed in the Deutsche Post shop:

  • Postcards
  • Letter mail in the following formats: ISO (A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, B4, B5, B6, B7)
  • Additional services: registered mail (advice of delivery, delivery to addressee only, mailbox delivery, delivery to addressee only with advice of delivery)

The following conditions must also be met: 

  • Volume: up to 100 sheets per item 
  • Document thickness: up to 1.2 mm 
  • Paper weight: 30 g/m² to 280 g/m²
  • Fasteners: for letter mail with simple fasteners (paper clips and staples)

Items that we can't scan (e.g. catalogs) will be sent without delay directly to your receiving address. 

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The following items are not covered by this service and will not be digitalized:

  • Small packages and parcels
  • Newspapers, magazines and catalogs
  • Documents in formal delivery orders
  • Books and merchandise items
  • Films and DVDs 
  • Promotional catalogs
  • Express mail 
  • PIN or TAN letters
  • Items with insufficient postage 
  • Returns or reply items (except when using RESPONSEPLUS)
  • Cash on delivery items 
  • POSTIDENT orders
  • Literature for the blind
  • Items with a non-delivery notice
  • Job application documents
  • Other non-scannable items:
    - Documents with bindings, adhesives, seals, grommets and the like
    - Items with non-scannable components such as banknotes, plastic cards and other objects
  • Oversize formats (larger than A3) or formats the scanner cannot identify (with multiple folds making them larger than A3)

Items of the types listed above are not accepted for digitalization and are instead sent to the customer according to the agreed conditions.

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For POSTSCAN we use only the receiving address that you:

  • Provided when you ordered POSTSCAN in the shop.
  • Verified using the AdressTAN sent to you.

Items sent to the receiving address will be scanned at POSTSCAN. The receiving address consists of first name, last name, street, house number, postal code and city. Make sure nobody living at the receiving address has an identical name (first names or multiple first names and last names). Collective forms of address such as "Family" or "John and Mary Smith" may not be used for registration.

Only receiving addresses in Germany are allowed.

Important: Your address cannot change during an active POSTSCAN order. To change your address, you have to enter a new POSTSCAN order for the new address.

Only one receiving address per POSTSCAN order is possible. For other orders, each customer must use their own customer account to submit an order for POSTSCAN.

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A POSTSCAN order allows you to receive your mail digitally and indefinitely wherever you happen to be as long as you have access to your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop. 

Important: We need a certain amount of lead time to set up the service, so we recommend submitting your order at least 7 days before you want to begin receiving digital delivery (e.g. before starting a vacation).

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POSTSCAN can also be used during temporary absences like vacations or business trips. To do so, after starting the service you only need to terminate it at the desired date in the Deutsche Post shop.

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After we've scanned your mail and sent it to your customer account where you can view it, we put the mail in storage. We send mail that can't be scanned directly to your receiving address without delay.

For POSTSCAN orders, we deliver your stored original mail to your receiving address, or to any other address specified by you, every month and after termination of your order.

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You can view your scanned mail in your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop for 90 days. After that, it will be deleted for reasons of data economy. Of course you can download selected letters and store them in a cloud or locally before they get deleted. 

After you terminate a POSTSCAN order, you can still view your scanned mail for 90 days in the Deutsche Post shop. You can delete items yourself at any time.

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Of course you can download your scanned mail and store it locally or in your cloud, but in your customer account in the shop it will be permanently deleted after 90 days.

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Requirements/Registration in the Deutsche Post Shop

The basic requirement is registering a customer account in the Deutsche Post shop. In order to get access to your digital mail, for legal reasons you need to verify your receiving address first. We'll send you an AdressTAN by mail at the address you provide when registering; you should receive it after about 3 days. Enter this AdressTAN in the POSTSCAN customer account in the Deutsche Post shop to verify your receiving address. Only after completing this step can you choose a starting date for your POSTSCAN order.

Important: Your address cannot change during an active POSTSCAN order. To change your address, you have to enter a new POSTSCAN order for the new address.

POSTSCAN is a service provided exclusively for private customers. You can learn about E-POSTSCAN for business customers here.

Further requirements:

  • At least 18 years old
  • Receiving address in Germany
  • No current redirection order, storage order or P.O. box contract
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For legal reasons, you have to verify your receiving address before you can use the POSTSCAN service.

We use address verification so we can be sure the person living at the specified address is really you and we aren't sending your digital mail to unauthorized third parties.

For address verification, POSTSCAN sends a physical letter with an AdressTAN to you at the address you provided when you placed your order in the Deutsche Post shop. Enter this AdressTAN in the Deutsche Post shop under "Kundenkonto" (Customer account). Now your address is verified and you can order POSTSCAN.

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Ordering Process

After you complete your registration, your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop will be activated immediately.

You can place your order in the Deutsche Post shop in just a few steps:

  • Open the POSTSCAN order page.
  • Enter your receiving address. We will digitalize the mail that is sent to this address.
  • If you want to, you can provide a different address for the monthly delivery of your scanned original documents.
  • Enter your e-mail address so we can notify you about new scans.
  • Confirm the powers of attorney for the receiving agent, the authorized representative, and the destruction of undeliverable items.
  • Check your shopping cart and your billing address, enter your direct debit information, and finish your order.
  • After your order, we'll send you an AdressTAN by mail at the address you provided when registering. Enter this AdressTAN in the POSTSCAN customer account in the Deutsche Post shop to verify your receiving address.
  • Then select your desired starting date.

After confirming your starting date, you'll receive a letter from us with your order confirmation.

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POSTSCAN orders with a limited duration cannot be booked in advance. However, after the starting date you can terminate your order as of a specified date to arrange for a limited duration.

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We need a certain amount of lead time to set up the service,
After you enter your AdressTAN, this lead time amounts to about 4 more days, after which you can specify your starting date.
So we recommend submitting your order at least 7 days before you want to begin receiving digital delivery (e.g. before starting a vacation).

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The setup fee is forfeited if the POSTSCAN order is not activated (AdressTAN entered and starting date chosen) within 6 months of the order. According to the terms and conditions, no refund is possible.

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Since we need to ensure that you still live at the receiving address you provided, the setup fee is forfeited after 6 months. If you wait to use POSTSCAN until after 6 months have passed, you have to buy it again so that we can verify your receiving address with an AdressTAN again.

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According to the terms and conditions, you are obligated to terminate your POSTSCAN order without delay because your combination of name and address doesn't differ from that of your neighbor. That makes it impossible to unambiguously distinguish your mail from your neighbor's mail. 

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Exclusions

Yes. POSTSCAN digitalizes all kinds of registered mail if it can be scanned (advice of delivery, delivery to addressee only, mailbox delivery, delivery to addressee only with advice of delivery) and delivers it in digital form. 

If you have ordered POSTSCAN, we accept registered mail on your behalf because of the power of attorney you granted us as authorized recipient.

If registered mail can't be scanned, we'll send it to your receiving address.

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No, unfortunately you can't order POSTSCAN if you have a current redirection order, storage order or P.O. box for the same period and the same address.

Because of the technical complexity of the systems in our facilities, we can't always ensure that you'll receive your mail through the desired channels if orders for different recipient services are placed at the same time, so we have to reject simultaneous use for quality reasons.

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Co-users are currently barred from POSTSCAN. If someone in your household also wants to use POSTSCAN, they have to order separately through their own account in the Deutsche Post shop.

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No, unfortunately you can't make multiple simultaneous POSTSCAN orders for the same receiving address.

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TAN/Password

A maximum of 3 AdressTAN letters is included in the setup fee. If you use them up, you need to place a new POSTSCAN order.

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Ordering a new AdressTAN letter from your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop under POSTSCAN (up to three times) is easy and convenient.

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You can request a new password online in your user account in the Deutsche Post shop:

  1. Under "Anmelden" (Log in) click on "Passwort vergessen?" (Forgot password?).
  2. Follow the step-by-step instructions under "Passwort vergessen?" (Forgot password?).
  3. Finish by setting a new password.

Now you can log in with your username and the new password.

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Payment/Invoice

The SEPA direct debit process is available to our customers as a payment method when they order POSTSCAN. For the continuous use (POSTSCAN monthly subscription) of Postscan, valid direct debit information must be stored in your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop. If no direct debit information is provided in the customer account, this can lead to termination due to non-payment.

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  • There is a one-time fee of EUR14.99 to set up POSTSCAN. The setup fee includes the first month of use. The setup fee is charged when POSTSCAN is booked.
  • The POSTSCAN monthly subscription costs EUR14.99 for each month or part of a month. The monthly subscription begins with the second month of use and is billed shortly before this time is reached.
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Online Services/Email Notification

The automatic e-mail notification about the arrival of new scanned mail can be deactivated in your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop under the "Postscan" option. 

Here's how it works:

  • Click on "Mein Konto" (My account).
  • Click away the yellow check mark under "E-Mail-Benachrichtigung" (E-mail notification) to deactivate, or click the yellow check mark to activate e-mail notification.
  • Save your selection.
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Data Changes/Data Protection

You can't change your receiving address during an active POSTSCAN order, even if you move before the order expires. You have to cancel the active order and set up a new POSTSCAN order for the new address.

You can change the delivery address for your physical mail in your customer account under "Postscan" at any time.

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Deutsche Post stores only the information that is absolutely necessary. During registration the following personal information is stored; without it the Deutsche Post shop can't be used:

  • First name and last name
  • Address
  • User name and password
  • E-mail address  
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Postal secrecy, data protection and data security are a top priority at Deutsche Post AG. As the customer, you exempt Deutsche Post from its obligation of postal secrecy as far as is necessary to provide the POSTSCAN service, in particular by opening and digitalizing mail. 

For more information about out terms and conditions and about data protection, see https://www.deutschepost.de/postscan/downloads and https://www.deutschepost.de/datenschutz.

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Termination

You can terminate your POSTSCAN order in writing with a notice period of 7 days. Use the termination button in your customer account under "Postscan".

  • Simply log in to the Deutsche Post shop and navigate to "Mein Konto" (My account):
  • Find the "Kündigen" (Terminate) button for online termination.

The termination of your current POSTSCAN order has no effect on your customer account in the Deutsche Post shop. 

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The notice period for termination of POSTSCAN orders is 7 days.

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Do you have any other questions?

You can find more questions and answers about POSTSCAN here.