Minister rejects proposal to let PostNL delay delivery of personal mail after outcry

Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts is temporarily abandoning a proposal to give PostNL an extra day to deliver letters and cards from consumers. The minister said this during a debate with the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, in which a significant majority spoke out against the plan. Many parties do not think this measure is a solution for the declining reliability of mail deliveries.

Beljaarts emphasized that he had not made a decision yet but only wanted to propose a solution to the Tweede Kamer to an urgent problem. “There are consequences to doing nothing now,” the minister warned the Tweede Kamer. "This is not my preference, but I am not deaf to your concerns. I will, therefore, not submit a proposal, and I am, of course, disappointed about that."

The minister suggested last week to give PostNL 48 hours to deliver consumer mail. The current norm of 24 hours is not achieved most of the time, and the ministers think it is unrealistic to expect this to change any time soon. The measure would also tie in with what users indicate is important, the minister said. They prefer "reliability over the speed of delivery".

Parliament felt Beljaarts was going along with PostNL’s wishes too easily. The “strict demands” that the minister said would be involved in this measure did not make much of an impression. "I think PostNL has negotiated this masterfully if they manage to achieve this," said BBB MP Henk Vermeer.

Beljaarts felt that he was actually being strict with PostNL. If the company had gotten its way, the delivery time would have gone to three days, and the government would have had to pay up to 30 million euros in subsidies to keep the so-called universal postal service afloat. The minister himself also indicated that he was not convinced of the need for state aid.

Femke Zeedijk of the NSC party also does not believe that PostNL is struggling financially to the point that you can justify state aid. She added that profits are being made on packages and postal deliveries.

She also noted that the company paid out another 330 million euros to its own shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in 2022. "How is it possible that a company comes to the government to beg for money more than a year after such a transaction?"