Reform of the postal market needed: PostNL subsidy cannot be verified

PostNL has announced it wants to receive €80 million in subsidies to meet the 2027 requirements for delivering consumer mail on time, known as the Universal Postal Service (UPS). The postal company states that costs continue to rise because fewer individuals and businesses are sending letters by post, yet PostNL is legally obligated to deliver the mail.

According to Professor Marco Haan of Industrial Organization, the requested amount is arbitrary and lacks substantiation. "It is also quite surprising, as politicians have actually relaxed the requirements to enable a profitable execution: as of July 1^st of this year, mail only needs to be delivered within 2 working days, and from July 1, 2027, this will even extend to 3 working days."

Another issue is that no one can verify whether the €80 million is realistic. It is difficult to determine the costs of the UPS, and even the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM), which has access to PostNL’s financial records, has stated that it is impossible to verify.

Proposal for postal delivery reform

In May, Professors Maarten Pieter Schinkel (UvA) and Haan sent a detailed proposal to the Dutch House of Representatives (only in Dutch) to restructure the letter postal market for competition using a regional concession model (Haan & Schinkel, 2026a; 2026b). They advocate for public tenders for mail delivery in separate regions and the abolition of PostNL’s monopoly position.

According to Haan, this is still necessary. "One advantage of publicly tendering mail delivery is that different companies can indicate the amount they would be willing to charge to deliver the mail or how much they would be willing to pay for that right. Since these companies compete with each other in the tender process, we at least know that a realistic price will emerge, ensuring we do not overpay."