- PostNL is increasing postage rates to compensate for rising costs and declining volumes.
- The rate for domestic letters will increase to 1.14 euros per stamp from 1 July.
- PostNL reported a loss for the first three months of this year when presenting the first quarter figures on Monday.
- Also read: Wages at PostNL up 19% in 2 years for 15,000 employees
PostNL will increase the rates for stamps from July, the company announced when presenting its quarterly results. The rate for sending letters in the Netherlands will be 1.14 euros per stamp, while it is currently 1.09 euros.
The rate for PostNL’s December stamp for 2024 is 1.06 euros. The special December stamps are 8 cents cheaper than normal stamps.
A sheet of 20 December stamps will soon cost 21.20 euros. The stamps can be purchased from November 18 via postnl.nl, or at post offices, parcel points, or stamp sales points.
The basic rate for letters abroad will be 1.80 euros, while it is currently 1.75 euros. The price for sending regular packages remains the same. Registered documents will cost 1 euro more.
The Dutch send fewer and fewer letters
PostNL sees that people are sending fewer and fewer letters. For example, the volume of mail that the company processed in the first months of this year was more than 12 percent lower compared to the same period in 2023. At the same time, PostNL is faced with rising costs, partly due to the sharp increase in collective labor agreements.
“This together puts enormous pressure on maintaining postal services,” explains Maurice Unck, Director of Mail at PostNL. “We do not like having to confront consumers with this interim rate change. However, it is necessary because we still deliver the mail five days a week, but there is much less mail and the costs are increasing.”
PostNL maintains expectations for 2024
PostNL reported on Monday that turnover for the first quarter of this year fell by 2 percent to 765 million euros, compared to the same period a year earlier.
The normalized operating result was negative 9 million euros in the first quarter of this year, compared to a plus of 7 million euros in the first quarter of 2023. The total loss amounted to 17 million euros in the first quarter of this year, against a profit of 4 million euros in the same period last year.
At the postal service, volumes fell 12.5 percent in the first quarter, while parcel shipment volumes were 4.6 percent higher.
PostNL still suffers from higher wage costs because wages are rising relatively quickly.
The company is sticking to the previously issued forecasts for 2024, with the normalized operating result expected to be between 80 million euros and 110 million euros this year. Last year this figure was 92 million euros.
The growth in parcel volumes is estimated at between 2 percent and 4 percent this year. For the postal service, the company assumes a volume decline of between 7 percent and 9 percent for the entire year.
