Christmas is by far the busiest time for Germany's delivery firms. On some days, they handle double the number of packages compared to normal trading days. Stefan Heß, the spokesman at Deutsche Post DHL Group, which is the world's largest courier, says that a lot of this increase is being driven by people shopping online.

"For our business, transportation before Christmas is hugely important,”said Heß. "So important that it's beyond measure.”

Bundesverband Paket und Expresslogistik, an industry group, estimates that couriers in Germany will carry up to 19 million packages a day this Christmas season. Deutsche Post DHL alone expects to carry a record numbers of packages this month – up to 11 million a day. It says that its business is set to increase by 10% in December compared to the same time last year.

Heß explains that its is a massive task for delivery companies to prepare for the holiday season, although he points out that Deutsche Post DHL, which has 36 packages centers across Germany, has done it many times before and knows what to expect.

"We knew exactly what to do," he said.“For instance, we hired more than 10,000 temporary staff, who can help our core workers at this busy time. We have about 12,000 additional vehicles on duty to deliver parcels from A to B quickly and safely.”

Deutsche Post DHL has been expanding its facilities this year, which will help with managing the Christmas rush. In November, DHL launched a mega parcel center in Bochum, west Germany, which can handle 50,000 packages an hour.

Other firms are also expanding. Rival Hermes this year opened three new parcel centers, in Leipzig, Hamburg, and Greven. Major couriers including Hermes and UPS are also taking on thousands of temporary workers for the Christmas season.

This is hugely positive given the broader concerns about the German economy, which grew by just 0.1 per cent in the quarter to September, narrowly avoiding slipping into recession.

Brian Prince, is an operations manager at the DHL parcel center in Rodgau, just outside of Frankfurt "It's nice because I have children and I love it when we see parcels going that are pressies, presents for children at Christmas," said Prince.

 "That makes us really happy. But there's always very much to do. We have so much to do.”