If your parcel shipment has not yet been delivered, we recommend that you first check the status of your parcel online at DHL Shipment Tracking.

In some cases, the status of your parcel may not change for several days. Usually, the parcel has been taken out of the fully automated process at the parcel centre. This can happen for a number of reasons. Here are some reasons that the delivery of your parcel might be delayed:

• The address on the shipment is faulty or incomplete (e.g. a transposed postal code or a missing house number).
• The shipping label was completed in illegible handwriting.
• The shipping label has fallen off the shipment.
• The packaging around the shipment has opened during transport or has been slightly damaged externally and needs to be repackaged.

If the shipment status has not changed for more than 5 workdays, you can request an investigation. If you are the recipient of the shipment, we recommend that you first consult with the sender of the shipment. This generally results in a quick fix for you.

Parcel or small package enquiry

Would you like to enquire about another product?

Express national or international enquiry

(Registered) letter, value or postcard enquiry

Note on international letter or postcard enquiry: Due to the provisions of the Universal Postal Convention, international enquiries about letters and consignments of books and goods are unfortunately not possible.

Unfortunately, the usual shipping time might be delayed by 1 to 2 working days in individual cases.

Your much-anticipated parcel is stuck in transit and it can sometimes take several days for the shipment status to change again. Don’t worry, your parcel will arrive, but you’re probably wondering how such a delay can occur.

Most shipments are sorted and processed fully automatically in our parcel centres – up to 50,000 shipments per hour. As a result, these items reach their recipient within a maximum of 2 working days after dispatch.

However, if the sorter system cannot read or allocate required information, your parcel might be misdirected or taken out for manual processing.

Here are some possible reasons why your shipment seems to have stopped moving:

• The address on the shipment is faulty or incomplete (e.g. a transposed postal code or a missing house number).
• The shipping label was completed in illegible handwriting.
• The shipping label has fallen off the shipment.
• The packaging around the shipment has opened during transport or has been slightly damaged externally and needs to be repackaged.

Please note the DHL shipment tracking. In such a case, there may be a delay of several days.

Please understand that it is not possible to have direct contact with the parcel centre or to accelerate the shipment through customer service.

If the shipment status has not changed for more than 5 working days, you can request an investigation. If you are the recipient of the shipment, we recommend that you first consult with the sender of the shipment. This generally results in a quick fix for you.

Please first check to whom the parcel has been delivered.

The “Delivered to” box on the results page of DHL Shipment Tracking will tell you if it was the original recipient – you, a relative, a neighbour, or any other person. “Letterbox” means that the item has been deposited directly in your letterbox.

To view the recipient’s name, click “Show detailed recipient information” and enter the recipient’s postal code. If the parcel has been delivered to the neighbour and you do not know or cannot find him, please be patient and see if he comes to you.
If he has not contacted you after two days, please contact our customer service team.

No. If the deliverer cannot find the recipient at the specified recipient address, the parcel will be returned to the sender.

Tip: Using the parcel notification and DHL Shipment Tracking, until midnight before the day of the planned delivery, you can choose a preferred location or preferred neighbour and can postpone the delivery day by up to 6 days.

Find out more here

Due to operational reasons, direct contact with your deliverer is unfortunately not possible. Even the customer service, unfortunately, does not have the possibility to contact the deliverer by phone.

If you want to praise or complain about your delivery person, please contact our customer service.

If the contents of your shipment have been damaged or parts of the contents are missing, it is best to follow the steps below:

1. Download the damage notification form and fill it in completely.
2. Print out the completed form, sign it and hand it in at a postal outlet together with the damaged item (including all parts of the shipment).
3. After the damage has been assessed at the responsible parcel centre, you will receive your shipment and the inspection result after approximately 14 days from receipt of the complaint at the postal outlet.

Click here to go to the damage notification form.

Note: Any damage or loss to the contents must be reported in writing to a postal outlet within 7 days of delivery.

Here are some reasons why the shipment is/has been sent back to the sender:

• The shipment does not meet the shipping conditions.
• The recipient address is unknown.
• The storage period in the postal outlet or Packstation was exceeded.
• There are sender instructions:
  By means of sender instructions, the sender can specify what should happen to the shipment if it cannot be delivered to the recipient, e.g. the exclusion of delivery to a neighbour in the case of sensitive deliveries.
  

Due to operational reasons, it is not possible to collect your parcel from a parcel centre.

But you can collect your parcel...

• from a postal outlet, from a parcel shop
• from a Packstation or
• from your preferred neighbour

You will see the message “The shipment is currently unknown to us” if no shipment status can be displayed at this time. This can happen for a number of reasons. For example:

• No information from the sender is available yet:
  The sender has already sent you the shipment number by e-mail but has not sent any shipment information to DHL yet. In some cases, it may take up to 24 hours for the sender to provide information to DHL or to hand over the shipment to DHL.
• The digits of the consignment number are transposed or there is a character is missing.
  Please check your entry.
• The shipment number is not valid:
  The shipment number or the shipment identification code is a 10- to 39-digit number-letter combination which you will find on your delivery receipt. You may have entered an incorrect number.
  Please check your entry.
• The shipment number is from a parcel shipment from abroad:
  Find parcel shipment from America (DHL eCommerce)
  Find parcel shipment from Asia (DHL eCommerce)
• The shipment number is from a letter or express shipment:
  Find a letter (registered letter, cash on delivery, value, urgent)
  Find an Express shipment (national and international)
  

Sometimes, the delivery agent might not be able to deliver your shipment to the postal outlet that he previously stated on your notification card. The actual place of delivery (e.g. postal outlet, parcel shop, Packstation) will be stated in DHL Shipment Tracking.

The shipment status is then e.g:
The consignment will be taken to Gildenstrasse 2, 46117 Oberhausen postal outlet for collection. The earliest possible pick-up time can be found in the notification card.

If the shipment tracking information matches that from your notification card, you might have gone to the postal outlet too soon and the shipment might not have been sorted yet.

Please check the time on the notification card again.

In some cases, the status of your parcel may not change for several days. Usually, the parcel has been taken out of the fully automated process at the parcel centre. This can happen for a number of reasons. Here are some reasons that the delivery of your parcel might be delayed:

• The address on the shipment is faulty or incomplete (e.g. a transposed postal code or a missing house number).
• The shipping label was completed in illegible handwriting.
• The shipping label has fallen off the shipment.
• The packaging around the shipment has opened during transport or has been slightly damaged externally and needs to be repackaged.

If the status of a national shipment has not changed for more than 6 working days, you can request an investigation. If you are the recipient of the shipment, we recommend that you first consult with the sender of the shipment. This generally results in a quick fix for you.

National parcel or small package enquiry

For shipments abroad, you can request an investigation if the status has not changed for more than 14 working days:

International parcel or small package enquiry

Would you like to enquire about another product?

Express national or international enquiry

National letter or postcard enquiry

National registered letter enquiry

National value enquiry

International registered letter or international value enquiry

Note on international letter or postcard enquiry: Due to the provisions of the Universal Postal Convention, international enquiries about letters and consignments of books and goods are unfortunately not possible.

Within Germany, a parcel is usually delivered to the recipient within 1-2 working days after dispatch. In a few cases, however, it may take longer – e.g. in the pre-Christmas period. 

For international deliveries, the transport time depends on the destination country. For more information please go to the relevant country selection for private customers.

The employees of our customer service unfortunately do not have any way of speeding up the delivery of your shipment.

Our service staff will see the same shipment history that you can access at DHL Shipment Tracking.

The amount of shipments transported daily and the speed at which our shipments move in our production facilities make it impossible for the service person to extract a single shipment or initiate their immediate forwarding.

You can specify a preferred location, a preferred neighbour or a preferred day for each parcel delivery individually or permanently in your DHL customer account.

Preferred neighbour:

• Designate someone in your immediate neighbourhood with whom we can leave your parcel if you are not at home.
• You will receive an e-mail or a notification card in your mailbox when a parcel is waiting for you there.

Tip: Inform your neighbour that you have named him as a replacement recipient to accept your shipments.

More about preferred neighbours

Preferred location:

• Designate a safe location on your property – for example, in your garage – in case we do not find you at home.
• You will receive an e-mail or a notification card in your mailbox when a parcel is waiting for you there.
• The safe location should be on your property, be dry and weatherproof and not be visible to third parties. It should be freely accessible to the deliverer.

More about preferred locations

Preferred day:

• Move the delivery of your parcel by up to six days to your preferred day.
• In your DHL customer account go to My Data & Services and specify the weekdays on which your parcels will be delivered from now on. You can change the weekdays at any time.

More about preferred days

The sender concludes a contract of carriage with DHL by sending a shipment. They are therefore our contractual partner, not the recipient, even if the recipient may have paid for the contents and shipment.

If you are the recipient, please contact the sender so that they can request an investigation.

If your parcel is delivered to a postal outlet, we will hold it for 7 working days for you and for 9 days if delivered to a Packstation. You can collect the parcel within this period. If you are unable to collect the parcel within this period, it will unfortunately be returned to the sender.

If you are unable to collect your parcels from a postal outlet or Packstation for a longer period, it is best to use our free Preferred neighbour or Preferred location services. This means you can receive your parcels securely and as you wish - even if you are not at home.