Dutch postage stamp prices almost double in 10 years

PostNL last year issued stamps featuring model Doutzen Kroes taken by Anton Corbijn

The basic price of a postage stamp is set to increase by €0.05 to €0.83 on 1 January, PostNL and the Dutch consumer and markets authority ACM announced on Monday.

This represents a 6.7% increase over the current €0.78 price. The cost of sending domestic packages remains unchanged.

But the forthcoming increase is a whopping 88.6% hike over the €0.44 cost of a postage stamp in 2008, the Financieele Dagblad noted. The postal prices are set each year by the economic affairs minister based on limits determined by the ACM.

The price of the special December or Christmas postage stamp is rising faster than that of the regular stamp, gong up to €0.73 from €0.65, a 12% increase. This is more than double the €0.34 charged for a Christmas stamp in 2008.

The amount of post delivered by PostNL has been falling steadily for years, shrinking a further 8.8% in the second quarter of this year.

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