Sorry, this isn’t correct for international letters.
Please check the FAQ for international sending:
https://www.deutschepost.de/de/b/briefe-ins-ausland/haeufige-fragen.html
Welche Inhalte dürfen in einem Brief International versendet werden? / Which content may be sent in an international letter?
→ “Die Sendungen dürfen keinerlei Waren enthalten”, meaning you’re not allowed to send any goods, just documents.
I love sending goodies, but it only feels right to do that when the person’s profile says they’re genuinely OK with receiving their card in an envelope. When I do that, I usually put a faux stamp of some sort on the postcard so at least it looks and feels like a real mailed card. (Also, I try to choose goodies that align with that person’s taste and interests, as far as I can judge it – not just “filler”.)
Yes, and if you open the page for “letter international”, the first thing that shows up is this warning:
Since January 1st, 2019, only documents in letters can be sent abroad. Business customers can use Warenpost International to ship goods; private customers should use DHL Päckchen International or Paket International for goods sent abroad.
Have you tried recently? I’ll gladly test it out.
You could send an envelope with a paper and teabag (no more than 20gr.) and I’ll send whatever gets through.
Anyone interested, pm please.
This is definitely wrong. May be you have overseen something. When you search for “allowed contents” you will find “documents and written communikation”. Nothing else. This is since january 2019.
May be it is possible “to strech the rules” as you suggest. But since it happened to me (only once) that I had to pay because of a teabag in an envelope (which I hadn’t even asked for), I would not do so. Even though the risk may be small, the postcard might not arrive the receiver, or he/she might to have to pay like I had to. The annoyance of this is not worth breaking the rules because of a tea bag or anything similar. The only thing I would add are e.g. bookmarks (made of paper), they possibly could get through as “documents”)
To me it seems to be very interesting that someone in Belgium seems to know the rules of German post services better than all the Germans who have written here. Have we all overseen something?
Yes very interesting indeed, that’s why i suggest to do the test but I guess a rant is easier.
I encourage you to stretch the rules, no more and no less
Why, though? Even if one letter with a teabag or some other small trinket gets through, that’s no guarantee that the next letter that contains the same thing gets through. It’s not really worth the hassle tbh.
Because we all participate for different reasons.
I love sending gifts and since I’m a mailman i like to test the system.
And offcourse, belgians… 
Oh, the random teabag … 
I don’t like to receive cards in envelopes - which I think is expressed clearly in my profile - and I hate tea (so there is nothing in my profile to indicate that I would appreciate a teabag), and yet every other month someone sends me a teabag along with their official postcard. I’m sure they mean well and I always say a polite thank you, but I’m not really thrilled about it.
Not long ago I received three blank cards in an envelope - again, I’m sure the intentions were good, but I would have been much happier to receive just one, but written and stamped. I realize I can’t dictate how the sender sends their card, but both of us would have been better off if they’d sent just one. 
Since sending in an envelope is slightly more expensive here and you are not allowed to send anything except documents, I rarely send extras. If, on occasion, I decide to honor the request to send the card in an envelope, I might add some of the used stamps I always have a lot of from all those envelopes I receive, if the person is a stamp collector. Stamps are pieces of paper and unlikely to be problematic as “goods”.
Oh, I just remembered - recently someone sent me an origami crane, pasted to the card with washi tape. That I was happy about, and it was cleverly done, too. I have also added an old train ticket to a card like that, although I admit I was a bit worried if the construction would survive the cruel American sorting machines.
Also, I don’t really know what to do with some of the stuff I get sent at random. So it usually gets thrown out, which gives me a bad conscience, although of course the sender can’t know it. It’s a bit sad that something that was meant well ends up making me feel uncomfortable.
I prefer to get my cards written and stamped. If you send me a blank card I will definitely write and stamp and send it to someone else.
If the recipient likes shaped cards and they don’t seem to mind an envelope, I’ll usually throw in two or three shaped cards - not just one. As long as the envelope does not weigh very much, it costs the same as sending a card.
I bought some shaped postcards a while ago but they’re too small to send through Canada Post alone. Seems a shame to let them sit around if someone else may enjoy them.
I know many want a written and stamped card so I won’t send extras to anyone who explicitly says this on their profile. Me, I don’t mind so much either way. I’ll just cut off the stamp from the envelope and put it with the rest of my postcards.
YOU can send everything you want as a letter to Germany. It’s just about FROM Germany to other countries
No, it’s wrong.
A returnadres is oblagatory too and still your cards arrive
I can read and I’m not discussing what is on the website of deutsche post.
I’m encouraging to stretch the rules since it is possible.
My experience as a mailman is that the post office doesn’t care what you send as long as you put it directly in the mailbox. Since everything is automated, If it passes the system your mailman will deliver.
To pass the system it first checks size and weight but NEVER content. Letter secret is a big issue (internationally!) and the reason you can send more than documents.
So if it’s flat enough, it will pass.
If anyone wants to try it out and send me a pm if interested .
On topic:
Yes i send extras. And i make em as ridiculous as possible just to make the recipient happy.
So do what you want to do as anyone else do what they want to do. 
I send stamps in an envelope to collectors and tape a small one euro-cent coin on the postcard to those who have specified that they want to receive it. (One day I received a small Russian coin taped to a postcard and even though I am not a collector, I was happy with the gift and surprised that it arrived without a problem!)
I have never had this case, but if the person asks for a tea bag, a shopping ticket or other small papers that I can easily get, I will send it in an envelope.
This is interesting; I have never recieved a random tea bag. Once in a while I get a bookmark in an envelope along with a card, but that has only happened 3 or 4 times in all my years. I think someone sent some new orgami papers once but but its quite rare to receive anything extra.
I may send things if people ask in their profile (a recipie card, stamps, stickers etc), but not often
I don’t send officials in envelopes but if I’m sending for a tag in an envelope sometimes I will add in stickers or an extra card or something else that the recipient says they like. But I am intrigued by @schrizzo’s suggestion above to make an envelope with two cards taped together, I am filing that idea for the future 
Personally I’m not much of a tea drinker but I am always surprised to get a teabag delivered properly, as Australian Customs can be really weird about incoming “biological material”.
One envelope I received was pasted closed again with Customs tape—and the teabag inside was also opened and taped together again. I can only imagine the Customs officer was feeling especially cheeky that day, no one is going to actually use a teabag after all that…!
I’ve seen profiles request feathers or flower seeds, which amazes me for this same reason. I imagine that would be even more likely to get the attention of Customs.
• Sometimes I send extra flat items (like stickers, newspaper, used stamps, bookmarks, etc.), if the recipient asked or doesn’t mind envelope. But it’s not really often I have those items available.
• When sending tea bags, I usually try to check first if their country accept that. Again, it’s not often. Individually enveloped tea bags are more expensive and rare than the regular tea I drink.
• I very, very rarely send coins or magnets. Usually it’s for collectors who seem to have safely received some through the mail. Plus, it’s hard to find magnets that are not thick or heavy in my place.
• I don’t dare sending leaves or flowers. I’m guessing they have to be professionally dried and pressed into a tight container or something. I have received wild leaves twice. I kind of happy because they are leaves with the color of Autumn 
which I will never see in my country, but also a little baffled. One of them was not tightly contained and there’s spots starting to appear on the surface.
• Last month I sent a cute small handkerchief with cute cat prints for a cat lover but the recipient didn’t write anything in the Hurray Message. 
I want to make people happy but I have to remember not everyone asked for surprises.
It costs me more to send a postcard in an envelope so yes I usually do put in some stickers or a few postcards to make it feel more worth the extra money it costs me. Also I hope it brings the person receiving it extra joy
i sent lucky coin
