Dutch plan to drop Monday postal deliveries

The minister of economic affairs has presented a proposal to parliament to cut postal deliveries on Mondays. At present the postal service PostNL NV, which is an independent company, is obliged by law to deliver six days a week.

Postal deliveries have been declining with the increase in email services and the post office is trying to cut costs and prevent rises in the price of services such as stamps.

At the beginning of 2013 PostNL threatened to cut 10,000 postal delivery workers and replace them with volunteers but then abandoned the project.

Last year it announced a scheme to cut the mail sorting offices to nine locations throughout the country but then decided on a less drastic scheme that would cut the 260 offices to 125.

PostNL’s operating profits were €291 million in 2012, slightly down on 2011 because of a nine per cent drop in addressed mail.

The proposal to abolish Monday deliveries was first suggested at the end of 2011 and it is not expected to face much opposition.