PostNL is to abandon its commitment to next-day deliveries as the volume of letters continues to decline.

Caretaker economic affairs minister Vincent Karremans said the service had to “move with the times” as he proposed relaxing the rules “to ensure that postal deliveries continue to work across the Netherlands.”

The target delivery time will be extended from 24 to 48 hours, with the exception of medical post and death notifications. Karremans said it was “likely” that the limit would be revised again to 72 hours by the end of the decade.

Parliament blocked an attempt by Karremans’ predecessor, Dirk Beljaarts, to move to 48-hour deliveries last October after MPs raised questions about the plan.

Karremans said he did not expect parliament to hold up the move a second time. PostNL will still be obliged to deliver 95% of items on time and provide a five day a week service.

The company had asked the minister to extend the deadline after failing to meet its target in recent years. Last year only 86% of letters were delivered the next day, but Beljaarts rejected PostNL’s plea to stretch the delivery time to 72 hours immediately.

PostNL has also been struggling with staff shortages and says postal rates are no longer high enough to covers its costs, but the law sets tight limits on the price of stamps. It has a monopoly on providing the regulated Universal Postal Service (USD) in the Netherlands.