Starting in January 2025, PostNL will be delivering within the space of two days mail from business customers that’s currently delivered within 24 hours. The move is one of the necessary steps to keep postal deliveries accessible, reliable and affordable. PostNL’s Group Works Council recently issued positive advice on this decision. Post under the universal service obligation (USO), such as that from the country’s orange post boxes, will continue to be delivered within 24 hours, five days a week.
By adjusting the delivery time for business mail from 1 January 2025, PostNL will be able to concentrate its mail delivery largely on peak days – a necessary move as digitalisation has reduced the demand for post. What’s more, customers’ need for their mail to be delivered within 24 hours has come down by 65% in the past decade. Going forward, PostNL will be talking to all business customers about the change.
Declining postal volumes and rising labour costs have been squeezing PostNL’s margins at its postal business. As a result, this change to the delivery of business mail is merely a first step and not a total solution for its mail business. It is imperative that, over time, USO mail will also be delivered within two days and within three in the future. This will necessitate a change in the current Postal Act. As PostNL reported earlier in the year, financial support by the government will also be necessary to keep the postal service in the Netherlands reliable, accessible and affordable for everyone.