The Bundespost was developed according to a three-stage principle common in public administration in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, then still without the later acceding Saarland and the New states of Germany). The upper stage consisted of the federal ministry for the post office and telecommunication system. The middle stage consisted of regional directorates (Bundespostdirektionen) and the state post office management (Landespostdirektion) under western Allied authority in West Berlin (see Deutsche Post Berlin (Deutsche Bundespost Berlin)) as of 1949/1955), with certain central bureaucracies (post office technical central office, telecommunication engineering central office, postal administration social office, and post offices) on an equal footing. Finally, the lower stage consisted of the actual post offices, postal giro (akin to a checking account) and savings bank offices, and telecommunication offices.
The legal basis for the administrative activity of the Bundespost was the postal administration law (Postverwaltungsgesetz, abbreviated PostVwG). A central goal of public administrative policy after 1924 was financial self-sufficiency. Political goals, however, often superseded this goal. According to the PostVwG, the federal postal system was to be administered "according to the principles of the policy of the FRG, in particular trade, economic, financial and social policies" and "the interests of the German national economy."
The Deutsche Bundespost was the largest employer in the Federal Republic. In 1985 it employed 543,200 people.