Getting DHL Packages Before Your Packstation Account Is Verified

The Official Rule

DHL’s Packstation network, the self-service parcel lockers found all over Munich, is genuinely useful once you’re set up, but getting set up requires a free DHL customer account (full legal capacity, at least 18, and residence in Germany or the EU), the Post & DHL app and a one-time identity check. DHL’s pages list no German mobile number as a requirement. Registration itself is free, and once it is complete DHL gives you a Postnummer (customer number) that lets you receive packages at a locker. Newly arrived families often have not finished this verification yet.

Since 7 July 2025, there’s a partial workaround. DHL began piloting registration-free Packstation pickup, letting customers receive packages without an account at all, but only for orders placed through participating online retailers at checkout. The pilot launched with roughly 20 merchants, including CEWE, Mosaik Tree GmbH, FarbenFux.de, and BC GmbH, with DHL planning to expand the list over the following months. The mechanism is simple: you choose a Packstation address at checkout on a participating shop, and once DHL delivers the parcel, you get a pickup code by email, either scanned directly at a screen-equipped Packstation or entered through the Post & DHL app at an app-only locker. It’s a real option, but it only covers shopping done through those specific retailers, not a package a friend or family member mails to you independently.

Full registration runs through DHL’s own site and needs identity verification. There are two routes: POSTIDENT, which DHL says is done only in the Post & DHL app, using the online function of a German ID card or photos of a German or foreign ID or passport, and takes about 5 to 10 minutes, or AdressTAN, where DHL mails a confirmation code to your registered address, a route that takes about 2 to 4 days simply because it depends on regular post arriving. Once verified, you get a personal Postnummer, and addressing a package to a Packstation follows a specific format: your name, the Postnummer in the address addition field, “Packstation” plus the three-digit station number in the street and house number fields, then the postal code and city.

If neither the pilot nor full registration is realistic yet, paid mailbox services like Mail Boxes Etc offer a practical bridge, though the real cost has two parts worth knowing upfront. MBE’s own current price list lists a base mailbox subscription running from roughly 30 euros for one month up to around 170 euros for twelve months (exact figures vary by MBE center), plus a smaller per-package handling fee on top, commonly cited around 1 to 2 euros. It’s not free, and it’s not just “1 to 2 euros a package” either, but it removes the chicken-and-egg problem entirely while you’re still working through Anmeldung and the rest of your first-weeks paperwork.

Living Outside Germany

A common question is whether a Packstation account is possible for someone who lives just across the border or has not yet settled in Germany. DHL’s customer-account help page answers it: the requirements are full legal capacity (at least 18) and residence in Germany or the EU, and citizens of the EU or Switzerland without a residence in Germany can also register to use the Packstation service in Germany, with identity verification through POSTIDENT. DHL adds that the account can be used only to a limited extent in that status, because some services such as preferred drop-off location or preferred neighbour are available only within Germany. The Post & DHL app is available only in German.

Step by Step

1. Check whether the shop you’re ordering from participates in DHL’s registration-free pilot. If it does, you can choose a Packstation at checkout with no account needed at all, at least for that order.
2. If you do not have a permanent address yet, some people use a temporary or friend’s address for AdressTAN while sorting out their own Anmeldung, worth asking whoever hosts you if a letter can arrive in your name.
3. Once your account is ready to register, register on DHL’s own site and choose POSTIDENT if you want to start using a Packstation within minutes rather than waiting on a letter.
4. If you need to receive packages before your account is verified, look into a paid mailbox service like Mail Boxes Etc as a bridge, budget a base subscription (roughly 30 to 170 euros depending on contract length) plus roughly 1 to 2 euros per package on top.
5. Once registered, save your Postnummer somewhere easy to find. You’ll need to give it out for every Packstation delivery, and the address format (name, Postnummer, “Packstation” plus station number, postal code, city) is specific enough that a saved template saves real time.