PostNL unable to deliver on time following Black Friday and Cyber Monday

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Nov 28, 2018

Dutch parcel company PostNL is currently unable to deliver packages ordered via e-commerce platforms on time. The delay is a result of the increasing popularity of shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the Netherlands.

The parcel company said that it expected to receive an additional number of packages to process in its parcel sorting centers and had taken the extra workload into account. However, in the last few days the large amount of packages coming in has exceeded PostNL’s expectations, the company said.

PostNL said that customers who are awaiting a delivery should consider a possible delay in the next few days, as the parcel company is experiencing a “record in the amount of packages to process for this time of the year”.

Figures from the Dutch Payments Association, published earlier this week, also illustrated the increasing popularity of online shopping during Black Friday alone: The number of online payments was up 47% in 2018, amounting to 3.5 million payments, which generated an online revenue of €275.5 million, compared to a revenue of €207 million in 2017.

In order to handle the upcoming holiday period, which is historically the busiest time of year for PostNL, the parcel company has recently opened three new sorting centers; hired 300 additional employees and purchased new trucks to add to its delivery fleet.