Dutch postal service to cut another 2,000 jobs

In the next four years PostNL will be cutting another 2 thousand jobs while accelerating the company's transformation into a parcel delivery specialist, the Dutch postal service announced with its annual figures on Monday, ANP reports. Up until the end of 2020 between 500 and 600 full time jobs will disappear annually from the Dutch mail division.

According to CEO Herna Verhagen, there will only be a few forced dismissals. Most employees will be stepping down willingly or reassigned. In the same period 1,600 new jobs will be created in the package division.

According to PostNL, the further job cuts are necessary because the postal market keeps shrinking. In the last quarter of 2016 PostNL processed 8 percent less mail than in the same quarter in 2015. This was offset by package delivery increasing by 13 percent. PostNL believes that package delivery will continue to increase in the coming period due to the rise in online shopping.

Last year PostNL employed nearly 46,500 people.

In 2016 PostNL's operating profits amounted to 245 million euros, a decrease compared to 303 million euros in 2015. Turnover decreased slightly to 3.4 billion euros.