Richintalent,
that's a loaded question. First, you need to separate out the old German States.
Most of the Northern States joined the North German Confederation on January 1, 1868, and their respective postal services ceased to exist at that time. These include Bergedorf, Brunswick, Bremen, Hamburg, Luebeck, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Prussia, and Saxony.
Hanover became a Prussian Province on September 20, 1866. Its postage stamps ceased to be valid for franking on November 1, 1866. Officially, the Hanover Postal Service merged into the Prussian Postal Service on January 1, 1867.
Thurn and Taxis, which was not a state, but a private postal company run by the Princes of Taxis, which conducted the postal service of many German States too numerous to name (some 20) was put under Prussian administration on July 21, 1866. The Thurn and Taxis postal service was merged into the Prussian Postal Service on July 1, 1867.
The Postal Service of Schleswig/Holstein and Lauenburg was merged into the Prussian Postal Service on January 1, 1867 and January 1, 1866, respectively. S and H continued to use their own stamps until December 31, 1867, thereafter, the stamps of the North German Confederation were used. Lauenburg discontinued use of its own stamps and began using Prussian stamps on January 1, 1866.
On January 1, 1871, the German Empire was formed. Officially, the North German Postal Service was renamed German Imperial Postal Service on May 12, 1871. Stamps of the North German Confederation continued to be used until January 1, 1872, when the first stamps of the German Empire appeared.
Baden never joined the North German Confederation (being a southern state) but joined the German COnfederation directly on November 15, 1870. It retained its postal sovereignty until December 31, 1871, when it was replaced by that of the German Empire.
Although Bavaria joined the German Empire on January 1, 1871, but retained sovereignty for its military and postal service until April 1, 1920.
Wuerttemberg, finally, joined the German Confederation on November 25, 1870, was a member state in the German Empire beginning January 1, 1871, and discontinued issuing postage stamps on March 31, 1902, with the exception of official stamps for state and municipal authorities, which were issued until 31 March 1920.
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on Sep-23-07
at 23:43:37 PDT
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member
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on Sep-23-07
at 19:37:27 PDT
I'm a silly little man - whoopee!!
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) 
on Sep-21-07
at 18:41:13 PDT
)
on Sep-18-07
at 22:18:42 PDT
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