Deutsche Post supports global delivery person emoji initiative
Deutsche Post supports an application from the Austrian Post to the Unicode Consortium based in Mountain View, California (USA), which seeks to make the approximately 5.3 million employees in the postal sector and millions more in the courier, express, and parcel (CEP) industry visible by creating a dedicated emoji.
- Pictograms in digital media represent numerous professions, but the delivery person role is still missing - postal companies and organizations worldwide want to change that.
- The Austrian Post's application for the creation of a delivery person emoji is currently under review by the Unicode Consortium (USA).
- Benjamin Rasch, Head of Marketing for the German Postal and Parcel Division: "The profession of the postal and parcel delivery person is an integral part of everyday life for people worldwide. It's time for a dedicated delivery emoji!"
Bonn - Tears of joy, winking smiley, or thumbs up-emojis are an integral part of communication in digital media. There are 3,800 of these pictograms representing emotions, activities, or professions. However, an important profession that millions of customers interact with daily is missing: that of the postal and parcel delivery person. Deutsche Post, along with numerous postal companies and international organizations such as the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and International Post Corporation (IPC), aims to change this. They support an application from the Austrian Post to the Unicode Consortium based in Mountain View, California (USA), which seeks to make the approximately 5.3 million employees in the postal sector and millions more in the courier, express, and parcel (CEP) industry visible by creating a dedicated emoji. Deutsche Post aims to draw attention to this initiative on the occasion of World Post Day, celebrated on October 9, which highlights the importance of national postal services.
Benjamin Rasch, Head of Marketing for the German Postal and Parcel Division of DHL Group: "Whether it's the joy of receiving a personal letter, sending important documents, or eagerly awaiting the delivery of ordered goods: the profession of the postal and parcel delivery person is an integral part of everyday life for people worldwide. The creation of a delivery emoji would allow billions of people to express their associated emotions in the digital world. We believe it's time to give the people who deliver to homes and businesses in all weather conditions a face of their own with their own emoji."
The proposal has received broad international support. It is backed by the IPC, a group representing the largest postal companies in Europe, Asia, and North America, the Postal Union of the Americas, Spain, and Portugal (UPAEP), the association of all North and South American postal companies, as well as UNI Global Union, a transnational organization representing 20 million workers in 150 countries. To date, in addition to Deutsche Post, national postal companies from Egypt, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, and Slovenia have joined - along with the Austrian Post as the initiator of the initiative. A resolution to support the delivery emoji, proposed at the World Postal Congress of the UPU at the end of September in Dubai, was unanimously adopted by the participating member countries.
The path to the emoji: Process and next steps
The foundation for a new emoji is always a proposal submitted to the non-profit Unicode Consortium, which manages the standardized character set and defines individual emojis. Applicants could submit their ideas for new emojis until July 2025, and the Austrian Post, with the support of IPC and UNI Global Union, proposed the delivery person. The Unicode Consortium will now review all submitted applications until the end of November and determine the next steps.
If the proposal is approved, the Unicode Consortium will develop a design proposal. Based on that, software companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, WhatsApp, and others will create their own emojis and add them to their character sets. In this case, the delivery person emoji is expected to be available on all smartphones worldwide sometime in 2026.
Alexander Edenhofer
Mail Products & Services, Regulation Issues, Postal Policy, E-Mobility, Bonn Topics
DHL Group
Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 20
53113 Bonn
Germany