Shopkeepers who operate parcel service points for PostNL are going to court in an effort to stop the company slashing their fees.

The association of service point operators VVP says the cuts will lead to shopkeepers losing an average of €9,000 a year. A spokesman told Radio 1 that many are thinking of stopping offering a parcel service altogether.

PostNL has cut the payments for parcels by between 25% and 40%. ‘That is disproportionate and an insult to the shopkeepers,’ VVP spokesman Gert Koudijs said. Today shopkeepers are paid less than 20 cents to process a parcel, down from 30 cents before the changes, he said.

PostNL says it is cutting the fees because the work has been simplified. According to the VVP, the changes are still at a pilot stage. ‘Let’s see the changes first and then cut the fees, not the other way round,’ Koudijs told the broadcaster.