Stamp vending machines have become obsolete

While initially roll stamps or booklets of stamps were issued, since the 1990s special vending machine stamps have been in use that are printed directly in the machine.

In 2019, Deutsche Post AG operated approximately 1200 stamp vending machines. At these, stamps for sending letters, postcards, etc. could be purchased. These dispensed stamps of the corresponding amount as "change" rather than coins when paying by the cent. Stamps with a freely selectable value could also be purchased at the stamp vending machines, to which the stamps issued as change could be added. This was always very practical if the postage had been increased and you still had stamps with the old postage amount at home. Then you could simply print out stamps with the missing value at the stamp vending machine.

Stamp vending machines were among the few machines in Germany that accepted all euro and cent coins. A maximum of 15 coins were accepted per payment transaction. So here you could also get rid of your small change.
However, due to the steadily decreasing use of these machines as well as rising repair and maintenance costs, their use in Germany has been declining in recent years.

At the end of 2022, Deutsche Post finally announced that it would phase out the machines for good. Defective machines would no longer be repaired or replaced with new ones, but dismantled.