Einkaufsbummel mit den Mädchen in Hannover

What does “Packesel” mean in German?

After a shopping trip in Hannover, this vlogger jokes that the Packesel only carried the heavy bags for a moment before handing them off. A Packesel is literally a “pack donkey” — an animal loaded with cargo — and colloquially it’s the person in any group who ends up lugging everyone else’s bags, luggage, or shopping.

The word works as gentle teasing rather than an insult: zum Packesel werden (“to become the pack mule”) describes anyone who volunteers, or gets stuck, carrying the load on a trip, at the airport, or — as here — after a shopping spree with friends who’d rather try on outfits than carry bags.