Just when we were recovering from the shock of PostNL’s plans to deliver mail every other day instead of the current daily schedule, the postal service hits us again with another blow: a price hike for stamps. Effective July 1, the price of a stamp will increase from €1.09 to €1.14.
The company cites rising labor costs and a decline in mail volume as reasons for the increase, which will be passed on to consumers.
Mail mayhem: PostNL’s puzzling price hike and delivery dilemma
The price of sending a letter abroad will increase from €1.75 to €1.80. Registered mail will now cost an additional €1. The price of sending a parcel will remain the same.
PostNL will also be releasing December stamps in November. These stamps will cost €1.06 each, up from €0.96 last year.
“Personnel costs – around 80 percent of our total costs – have risen sharply in recent years, while fewer and fewer letters are being sent,” says Maurice Unck, Director of Mail at PostNL. This combination, he says, puts enormous pressure on the company.
“We don’t like to have to confront consumers with this interim price change. However, it is necessary because we still deliver mail five days a week, but there is much less mail and the costs are only getting higher.”
Figures released by PostNL on Monday show that the number of letters sent is indeed falling sharply. In the first quarter, the company sent 12.5% fewer mail items than in the same period a year earlier. The Mail division therefore ended up in the red with a loss of €5 million.
Facing a decline in mail volume, PostNL is exploring a cost-saving measure that could impact consumers directly. The company is mulling a shift to every-other-day mail delivery, potentially altering the way many Dutch residents receive their mail.
More packages, less profit? The curious case of PostNL’s package paradox
The package division is doing better. The company processed 86 million packages in the first quarter of this year, which is four million more than a year earlier. This was mainly due to the fact that the Dutch ordered more from Asian webshops.
Despite the increase in package volume, turnover fell short of expectations, dropping by €6 million to €555 million. Profit fell from €5 million to €2 million, likely due to a lower profit margin on cheaper packages.
In total, the company received €765 million in the past quarter, which was insufficient to generate a profit. PostNL made a loss of €9 million.
