PostNL has failed to meet its legal obligation to deliver 95% of letters on time in 2024, with only 86% arriving within 24 hours, according to the annual postal and parcel monitor published by the market regulator ACM. This marks the sixth consecutive year the delivery service has missed its target.

The ACM reports a significant decline in reliability over the past three years. On-time delivery has fallen from 94.3% in 2020 to the current 86%. Approximately 14% of letters are now delivered late, and some are never delivered at all.

The ACM has noted an increase in complaints regarding delivery performance. Concerns are rising about mail arriving very late or not at all.

These quality issues exacerbate other challenges faced by PostNL, including a 25% decrease in letter volume over the past four years. This decline affects both business and consumer mail, with consumer post experiencing the most substantial drop.

PostNL may also face new competition as Spotta, a door-to-door advertising company, has applied for a license from the ACM to deliver addressed mail.

In October, parliament rejected a proposal to reduce PostNL’s delivery schedule from five to three days a week to cut costs. Delivery times and targets are legally mandated.

In February, PostNL announced changes to its operations, including emptying post boxes throughout the day instead of in the evening and reducing the number of post boxes from 23,000 to 10,000.