Headline

Willy Brandt kneeled down in Warsaw and signalled the start of a period of détente between East and West. The oil crisis emptied the streets and showed us how dependent we are on fossil fuels. The Vietnam War ended. The computer firm Apple was founded. Hair shampoos smelled of green apples. Punks replaced hippies as the protagonists of youth culture. Star Wars dominated the cinemas.

And in Hamburg, Hermes got off to a flying start...

Well prepared

In a survey conducted by the German Association of Mail Order Companies in the middle of the 1960s, it was officially confirmed what the people at OTTO had long known. The Deutsche Post was too expensive, too slow and too unreliable.

Werner Otto, founder and then Chairman of the OTTO Board, therefore launched a plan to make the delivery of packages and parcels independent of the post office. Concrete planning began in 1967. The new computer equipment at Otto enabled all orders to be processed on a local basis. In February 1969, “decentralised parcels dispatch” was launched: The first packages were trucked to Düsseldorf, Offenbach and Heidelberg and only there were they entrusted to the post office. Delivery times were shortened by at least a day, and some cost savings were also achieved. The partner used for the “long stretch” of the journey was the company Union-Transport-Betriebe Paul Posselt (UTB). During the Christmas rush of 1969, UTB delivered up to 10,000 packages a day just to Düsseldorf. Encouraged by this success, planning for a complete package distribution system which would also incorporate local distribution subsequently followed. Cooperation with the Werner Velbinger Organisation (WVO), West Germany’s largest deliverer of catalogues and samples to private households, began in 1970. One significant argument in favour of this choice was the fact the WVO checked locally that delivery had properly taken place. The first regional test in Hamburg in 1971 was so successful that a second depot was opened in Frankfurt, followed in 1972 by seven further depots in Western Germany. They had a total storage area of 200–300 m2, each one employing a manager and three or four drivers. Overall, these depots handled around 25% of OTTO’s entire shipping requirements. It was because of these experiences that the company Hermes-Paket-Schnell-Dienst GmbH & Co. KG was eventually set up.

Official launch

It all started on 1 June 1972: the Hermes fast package service officially commenced operations. The company’s head office was in a house at number 79 Bebelallee in Hamburg. (Photo) The OTTO mail order company took 70% of its shares and Werner Velbinger the remaining 30%.

The Hanomag diesel vehicles used were blue. From the outset, the drivers were known as customer assistants in order to set the company apart from the post office in terms of the service it wished to offer. They made deliveries from Tuesday to Saturday. In the same year, a further eleven depots were opened, and the company was already delivering around 45% of OTTO’s shipping requirements.

1,000,000

Over Christmas 1973, Hermes made its one millionth delivery. Goods were not just transported in boxes but also in bags, sheeting, sacks and buckets, and as unpackaged large items.

In 1973, Hermes also introduced the additional service of shipping large packages up to a weight limit of 30 kg. One year later, the limit was reduced to 27 kg, while the Deutsche Post applied a weight limit of 20 kg to packages. This resulted in a win-win situation for OTTO, as it was now able to expand its range of services and accept items that had become too expensive to ship via the post office because they were too heavy.

The dance hall

The goal of establishing Hermes throughout West Germany was boosted in 1973 with the opening of a further 15 depots. One of them, in Idar-Oberstein, was opened in a former dance hall. The first delivery was made one evening with an articulated vehicle carrying only 27 packages.

When they were spread out in a storage area of almost 200 m2, one of the drivers asked: “And when is the shop closing again?”

Hanging clothing

From 1973, clothing, such as blouses and blazers, was delivered by Hermes on a coat hanger and covered with plastic sheeting. Particularly careful means of delivery were required for such items. All vehicles consequently had to be refitted, and this was well received by final customers (photo).

With one exception: when certain other goods, belonging to one of Hermes’ first customers outside OTTO, were stored right next to the clothes rails. The goods in question were 50 kg sacks of Californian cow dung, composted and dried manure, which was being transported at the same time. It had previously been stored outside and had become damp… This was obviously less of a problem for the Horstmann tree nursery in Elmshorn, also one of Hermes’ first customers from outside OTTO. Whether one is talking about the upright cherry laurel, the white cedar or a potted firethorn – plants smell.