PostNL: “Regulation should reflect the reality of the shrinking mail market”
Following the publication of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ report on the postal market yesterday (10 July), PostNL has issued a statement arguing that regulation “should reflect the reality of the shrinking mail market” and “not artificially further competition”. In its response statement, PostNL said: “The analysis of Minister Kamp demonstrates once again that the postal market has changed fundamentally over the past years and that choices about the future must be made shortly.
“PostNL shares the view that regulation supporting competition does not correspond with the reality of a declining market. This is outdated and results in competition at the expense of labour conditions. One must focus on the reliability and affordability of the postal service and on decent labour conditions.”
Herna Verhagen, the CEO of PostNL, commented: “In a market that declines with 9% annually, further emphasising competition will result in deteriorating labour conditions and deterioration of the quality of the postal service. Competition does not comply with the regulation requiring postal operators to employ their workers; they compete at the cost of their workforce. Choices must be made to allow these employees to make a decent living in a declining market. Employees are crucial for the preservation of the quality of the postal service, also in the future.”
The postal operator also said that it believed that “it will not be necessary to adjust the service level and number of delivery days of the USO in the short term, provided that the regulation of the bulk market, including significant market power, will be amended.”
PostNL added that “future changes of the USO will – in most instances – depend on the decision making in Europe and are thus not a solution in the near future”.
As previously reported by Post&Parcel, the document from the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs looks at possible ways forward for the postal industry in a digital world. Click here to download a PDF of the report.
