Mail delivered too late: fine of 2 million euros for PostNL

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://netherlandsnewslive.com/mail-de ... nl/349389/

‘Below the legal minimum of 95 percent’
In 2019, PostNL delivered 94.34 percent of letterbox mail with a five-day delivery obligation on time, which is under the legal requirement of at least 95 percent,” according to the ACM.

PostNL: ‘Force majeure’
PostNL speaks of force majeure, because after the takeover of competitor Sandd, the company had to deal with problems in Sandd’s network. PostNL subsequently decided to process large quantities of bulk mail sent via Sandd via its own network, as a result of which part of the letterbox mail was delivered too late.

ACM: ‘No force majeure’
ACM concludes that there was no question of force majeure, because it has not been shown that PostNL had adequately anticipated any problems at Sandd. In the months before the Sandd acquisition, the quality of the mail delivery was already under pressure. The percentage of letters delivered on time – which is averaged over the whole year – has followed a declining trend since 2014 and fell below the legal minimum in 2019.

Universal Postal Service (UPD)
PostNL has been designated by the legislator to provide the so-called universal postal service (UPD). Among other things, it has drawn up strict requirements regarding timely delivery. ACM monitors this. ‘Consumers and all other users must be able to rely on a high reliability of the delivery of letterbox mail’, says Manon Leijten, board member of the ACM. ‘That is why clear quality standards for timely mail delivery of this UPD post have been established.’