Things to come?

[jbo5066]

PostNL wants €80 million from government to continue mail delivery next year
Tuesday, 20 October 2026 - 10:15
PostNL has asked the government for €80 million to compensate it for delivering the mail in 2027. The volume of mail is steadily declining, while the costs associated with delivery continue to rise. According to PostNL, costs stemming from a legal obligation in an outdated law “cannot be placed on the company.”

For years, PostNL generated a profit from its legally mandated mail delivery services. But since the advent of the internet, mail volumes have declined dramatically. Netherlands residents now send about 70 percent less mail than 20 years ago, the company said. But as the provider of the Universal Postal Service (UPS), PostNL is still bound by the statutory requirements of the Postal Act from 2009.


“The new Postal Act has been pending in parliament since 2020, yet six years later, it has still not been addressed. In the meantime, mail volumes have declined significantly. At the same time, we are required to maintain full Saturday delivery—even though very little mail is delivered on that day—and the law mandates that we keep a large number of letterboxes in service, despite them becoming increasingly empty,” said Maurice Unck, director of MailNL at PostNL.

According to PostNL, mail delivery will cost a total of over €148 million across 2025, 2026, and 2027. “For comparison, PostNL’s mail division recorded a result of €2 million for the entire year of 2025,” Unck said.


“Costs stemming from a legal obligation cannot be placed on the company. This uncertainty places an unacceptable burden on our mail division and our employees,” the director said.

PostNL, therefore, asked the government for €80 million in compensation for mail delivery in 2027. The company also wants to reduce the frequency of its deliveries again, and to be exempt from mail deliveries on Saturday. Since July, the government has allowed PostNL to deliver letters and postcards every two days instead of daily, but PostNL would like three days for delivery.


The company also urged politicians to make haste in handling and implementing the new Postal Act.

[derekm]

Kretinsky is à large shareholder in the Dutch postal service and I think this has been tried before, and was kicked into touch. Obviously they are trying again and expect them to try the uk government for subsidies to keep the uso going

[Mr Rush]

But since the advent of the internet, mail volumes have declined dramatically. Netherlands residents now send about 70 percent less mail than 20 years ago

I have so many hills I'm going to die on, it's like my own personal Himalayas...
Whoever wrote this article should know the internet and the web are not the same thing. The former in its most primitive state dates back to the 60s while the latter burst forth in 1990. In either case mail volumes in all countries peaked well after their advent. It would be more accurate to say the mass adoption (and subsequent ruining) of the technology drove printed paper into exponential decline.

Anyway, what I find interesting is that mail volumes over there have declined by the exact same amount in the exact same time as here. More so, PostNL started alternate day delivery at almost the same time we did and plan to do what we did to the service on Saturdays. Such remarkable symmetry!