The market for delivering letters weighing under 50 grammes is to be opened up to competition from April 1, the cabinet has agreed.

This means the last monopoly held by Dutch postal company TNT is being abolished. The move still needs approval from the upper house of parliament.
In return, TNT’s main competitors Sandd and Selekt Mail will have to make sure that 80% of their delivery staff have a proper contract within 3.5 years. At the moment, most of their workers earn a few cents for every item they deliver and do not get holiday or sick pay, allowing them to undercut TNT’s charges.
The Telegraaf reports that little is expected to change for ordinary consumers. Competition is expected to focus on the business market and the 24-hour delivery guarantee is set to continue, the paper says.
Bulk mail accounts for some 92% of the post market, the paper says.