Backround Information

TWO CENTURIES OF TNT POST IN THE NETHERLANDS

In the beginning

All postal organisations in the Netherlands were nationalised on 15 January, 1799. The political leaders of the day felt that only the State possessed all the means necessary to organise "the public conveyance of letters". Prior to 1799, letters were collected, carried and distributed by a variety of parties that included the first organised postal service, the Roman cursus publicus. In the centuries that followed, a motley collection of organisations and individuals became involved in the lucrative business of carrying mail. During the French period (1795-1815), the Dutch postal system benefited from the knowledge and skill of its highly developed French counterpart.

Public interest

Mail was seen as an important source of income until the early 19th century, but it gradually evolved into a "social institution". The government sought a balance between a secure, fast and inexpensive postal system for the public on the one hand, and sufficient revenues for the State on the other. The 1848 revolution and the establishment of the Constitution in the same year brought about a change of thinking as regards the postal service. It was decided that the number-one consideration should be the public interest. Among other things, this resulted in postage rates being reduced by one-third.

Postage stamps

The postage stamp was introduced in the Netherlands on 1 January, 1852. Up until 1877, however, use of a stamp was not obligatory. In 1906, the Dutch postal service issued for the first time a stamp for a "special philanthropic cause." It was sold at double the price of a normal stamp and the surcharge went to the Amsterdam Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. TPG Post issued a special stamp on 15 January, 1999 to commemorate its two hundredth anniversary.

Delivery of mail

In the 1920s, the Dutch postal service reduced the number of daily mail deliveries from four to three, despite protests by the business community. In 1932, the third daily delivery was abolished outside the major cities. After the war, a system of two deliveries per day was introduced throughout the Netherlands, a move made possible by faster distribution. In the late 1960s, the PTT gradually reduced deliveries to one per day. By 1969, 20% of all households were receiving their mail only once a day. The expected criticism of this decision did not materialise.

1940 - 1945

The volume of postal traffic decreased significantly during World War II. Nevertheless, the PTT still delivered more than 1 billion letters every year during the war. The shortage of fuel obliged the company to resort to "old" means of transport - postmen on foot and horse and cart. Postal traffic was delayed enormously because of the difficult circumstances during the war years. In February 1945, a letter posted in Groningen took more than a month to reach The Hague.

Postal conveyance

The postal service and the railways signed a contract in 1844 for the conveyance of mail by rail. With the major expansion of the railway network during the 19th century, the distribution of mail by train increased significantly. By 1913, trains were carrying mail over a total distance of 60,000 kilometres each day. In the same year, the postal service started using motor vehicles to a greater extent for the transport of mail between cities. This was also the time that the first night train was introduced in the Netherlands on the Amsterdam - The Hague - Rotterdam route. This service was expanded into a complete night mail service in 1930. The expansion represented enormous progress, because it enabled the public to post letters later in the day for delivery in the first round in all provincial cities the next day. In 1947, the postal service introduced two rail transport networks, a day network and a night in network. The very last mail train service in the Netherlands was on 20 May 1997. Since then, trucks have conveyed mail by road between the sorting centres.

Corporatisation

On 1 January, 1989, the state-owned Netherlands Postal and Telecommunications Services (PTT) moved into the private sector as NV Koninklijke PTT Nederland (KPN), with TPG Post BV and PTT Telecom BV as its principal operating companies. KPN was assigned two exclusive concessions by law. One was for operation of the postal service. Under the terms of the concession, TPG Post was required to carry letters and other addressed items up to a weight of 10 kilograms in the Netherlands and to and from foreign countries. TPG Post was made subject to directives issued by the Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. In return, the company received an exclusive right to carry letters up to 500 grams, to place posting boxes on the public highway and to issue postage stamps bearing an image of the monarch and/or the word "Nederland" (Netherlands).

Post offices

Even in the 19th century, the post office network was an important "outlet" for a variety of different government services. The post offices became "centres for general services". The post office had to respond to the changing needs and wishes of customers, so TPG Post decided in the 1980s to undertake a major modernisation operation that is still going on today. As a result of these changes, post offices in the Netherlands differ from their counterparts in other countries in terms of their appearance and furnishing. In 1993, the post offices division was demerged from TPG Post and made a separate company called Postkantoren BV. The company is owned jointly by TPG Post and Postbank. Today, Postkantoren BV is a flourishing company.

Profit and loss

At the start of this century, the state-owned PTT had difficulty in making its books balance. It made a loss until well into the 1920s. In the 1930s, however, the company made profits that averaged 3 million guilders per year. After World War II, the PTT management took measures to increase efficiency by introducing a new delivery system and improving postal conveyance. The measures resulted in the PTT achieving a positive operating result by the early 1950s. But the company slid back into loss-making operations and the government had to inject money into it until 1988, shortly before its corporatisation.

Commercial policy

The way the postal service was viewed changed in the 1970s. It was no longer considered to be a "service in the public interest", but a company that should make a profit. Towards the end of the 1970s, TPG Post began conducting a commercial policy, with products and services tailored to meet the wishes of its customers. Among other things, the company introduced a distinction between private and business customers. Without such a commercial policy, it is highly unlikely that TPG Post would have returned to profitability in the second half of the 1980s. After moving into the private sector on 1 January 1989, TPG Post began developing commercial activities alongside the services that it was required to provide by law. The management of the day defined the company's objectives in the following way:

• TPG Post must become a profitable company;
• the company must focus more on adjacent markets with growth opportunities;
• customers must figure more prominently in the policy of the company;
• TPG Post must adopt a more international outlook.         

To pursue these objectives effectively, TPG Post was divided up into smaller units - profit centres - each serving a distinct segment of the market. This change resulted in entrepreneurship becoming embedded more widely and deeply within the organisation.

• 2006 - TNT Post Corporate presentation, update April 2006 [451,7kb]