PostNL gets permission to halve number of post boxes

Economic affairs minister Henk Kamp has given PostNL permission to cut drastically the number of post boxes and post offices.

Kamp told parliament in a written briefing that from 2015 the postal company can halve the number of post boxes to 8,700 and cut the number of post offices franchises from 2,500 to 1,000.

This will save the struggling company €27m, Kamp said.

PostNL, which booked a €410m loss in the first quarter, already announced it will stop delivering post on Mondays from 2014. Kamp now wants to cut the number of days on which post is collected to five.

The cost of postage stamps must not rise more than 4 cents in 2014, following an agreed rise of a maximum 6 cents on July 1 this year.

Organisations for the elderly have already protested about the reduction in post boxes.

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