TNT News

The Hague - The quality of consumer mail delivery in 2011 has achieved one of its highest in over 20 years scores with 96.1%. By law, PostNL must score at least 95% for the standard overnight delivery services within the Netherlands. This concerns the mail deposited in PostNL’s public postboxes. As a rule, these items must be delivered the next working day.

The Hague – PostNL today issued Red Cross stamps on the theme of first aid. By purchasing these stamps people will help the Red Cross increase awareness of first aid in the Netherlands. The stamp sheetlet contains a special QR code that smart phone users can scan to download the Netherlands Red Cross’ first aid app for free. The app ensures that you always have the information you need to help a casualty.

The Hague – Today PostNL is presenting two stamp sheetlets featuring historic Dutch country houses. 2012 is the Year of the Historic Country House, charming cultural heritage sites that are being celebrated by PostNL with the issue of stamp sheetlets Beautiful Netherlands Mattemburgh and Amstenrade. These heritage residences, surrounded by gardens or parks, were built between the 17th and 19th century by wealthy city dwellers in nearby countryside locations.

The Hague – January 1967 saw the launch of the single Land van Maas en Waal from the LP Voor de Overlevenden by popular Dutch singer-songwriter Boudewijn de Groot. Now, 45 years on, PostNL is issuing a stamp that lets you listen to his greatest hit using a smartphone.

The Hague – PostNL is helping small and medium sized enterprises collect invoice payments faster by means of a free online tool. More and more SMEs are having difficulty collecting invoice payments, with at least 1 billion euros being lost each year due to uncollectible invoices. Not being able to collect invoice payments is the major cause of one in four insolvencies in the Netherlands. Also, 60% of SMEs have customers who do not pay or who pay too late.

The Hague - On 16 January 2012, PostNL will be closing its delivery location in Ede, Lunteren, Oosterbeek, Renkum and Wageningen. This closure is part of the previously announced reorganisation at PostNL. The company will be closing all its delivery locations in phases between early 2012 and the autumn of 2013. PostNL has been forced to make drastic changes to its operations in response to changing customer needs and the sharp decrease in postal volumes.

The Hague – On 16 January 2012, PostNL will be closing its delivery location in Houten. This closure is part of the previously announced reorganisation at PostNL. The company will be closing all its delivery locations in phases between early 2012 and the autumn of 2013. PostNL has been forced to make drastic changes to its operations in response to changing customer needs and the sharp decrease in postal volumes.

The Hague / Noordwijk / Badhoevedorp – ESA astronaut André Kuipers has sent the world’s first ever postcard from space using PostNL’s KaartWereld.nl. André Kuipers sent Emma’s card from the International Space Station (ISS), in orbit 400 kilometres above the Earth, to celebrate her eleventh birthday. On the postcard, which features a photo André took himself from the ISS, he wishes Emma a happy birthday. Emma suffers from Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, or MPS VI, a rare chronic degenerative disease.

The Hague / Amstelveen - PostNL today introduced its first Personal Stamps for the destinations Europe and World, featuring KLM’s coveted miniature Delftware houses. Ger Jacobs, PostNL’s Commercial Director, today presented these unique stamps to Harm Kreulen, Director of KLM Netherlands, at the “Lane of KLM Houses” at the airline’s headquarters in Amstelveen. PostNL launched its Personal Stamps eight years ago, but until now they could only be used for addresses in the Netherlands.

PostNL has intercepted a large series of counterfeit postage stamps offered through public websites for a price well under face value. PostNL could have incurred several million euro in damage. PostNL’s authenticity recognition system identifies the counterfeit stamps after which shipment of the postal item will be stopped. Under Article 216 of the Dutch Criminal Code, anyone who counterfeits postage stamps or uses counterfeit postage stamps can be sent to prison for up to six years.

The Hague – To mark ESA astronaut André Kuipers' PromISSe mission, PostNL composed a unique collection of space postcards and stamp sheetlet in cooperation with the European Space Agency. The first postcard was formally handed over to Franco Ongaro, Director of ESTEC, by Guido de Wit, Director E-Commerce PostNL Data and Document Management at the launch event in the Space Expo in Noordwijk on 21 December.

The Hague – PostNL has reached agreement with trade union BVPP on a new collective labour agreement (CLA) for mail deliverers. The CLA offers higher pay to employees who remain with PostNL as mail deliverers for a longer period. The starting salary follows the trend in the minimum wage. Mail deliverers can now also take unpaid leave.

The Hague – PostNL will commence talks with its pension funds to discuss ways to reduce its pension contributions. There are concerns that pension contributions may rise by hundreds of millions of euros over the coming years as a result of the lower coverage ratios caused primarily by the low interest rate. PostNL feels it would be imprudent to pay the additional hundreds of millions under the present operating conditions.

The Hague - According to research by PostNL, a third of Dutch people are happier during Christmas than at any other time of the year. Now Saint Nicholas has left the country, the Dutch are pulling out the stops in the run-up to Christmas. Decorating homes, hanging up lights around town and getting ready to celebrate the festive season with family and friends: the Netherlands is looking forward to Christmas! PostNL carried out a survey into the Christmas spirit and people’s preparations leading up to the postal operator’s busiest time of the year, which sees 160 to 170 million Christmas cards being sent.

PostNL is introducing “MijnPakket” (My Parcel), a new service giving online shoppers greater control and choice for orders that will be delivered by PostNL Parcels. MijnPakket gives shoppers an overview of all their online purchases. The new service also stores address and delivery preferences so that online shoppers no longer need to fill in those details for every webshop individually. This makes purchasing online even easier.

The Hague / Ratingen - The High Administrative Court has confirmed the ruling of the Bundesnetzagentur against Deutsche Post and First Mail yesterday. With immediate effect Deutsche Post must stop its anticompetitive behaviour through its budget subsidiary First Mail. This outcome stops the destructive negative price spiral and is an important step on the path to break even of TNT Post Germany in 2013.

Netwerk VSP, part of PostNL, has decided to discontinue its activities on the addressed mail market as of 17 December 2011. The current mail market and the economic circumstances offer insufficient perspective to continue these activities profitably in the longer term.

The Hague

Despite the increasing popularity of Internet shopping, 98% of Dutch people still find it important that there are shops close to where they live. Almost everyone visits a local shop at least once a week. A quarter of those questioned even visit on a daily basis. The fact that the shop is close by was given as the main reason for the number of visits (56%). In the run-up to the opening of the 2600th post office, PostNL has carried out research into the social function of local shops. The research carried out by the postal operator, which has the largest retail network in the Netherlands, has shown that people are still receiving personal service quite literally around the corner from where they live. For almost a quarter of the respondents social contact was the main reason for continuing to visit the shop around the corner.