How postal service sell-offs have fared across Europe

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The Netherlands was the first country to sell off its state-owned system but it has led to the closure of around 90% of post offices

People in Holland have to wait for four different companies to deliver post after the country privatised its mail services.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to sell off its state-owned system in 1989 but it has led to the closure of around 90% of its post offices.

Four competing firms handle the mail so homes and businesses get letters and parcels from men and women in orange uniforms from PostNL, run by multinational company TNT, blue postmen from Sandd, a private firm, yellow staff from Selekt, owned by DHL, and the half-orange postmen of Netwerk VSP, also TNT-run.

To add to the confusion, TNT delivers six days a week, Sandd and Selekt two days a week, and VSP just once. And Dutch post boxes are only emptied once a day.

After Belgium’s government flogged 50% of La Poste in 2006, 30,000 workers went on strike because of job losses and a drive by bosses to replace full-time workers with part-time employees on lower wages.

In Austria, stamp prices soared to 90p after the post was sold to a private firm.

Deutsche Post is run by DHL in Germany but laws protect its services. There are no such plans if the Royal Mail is sold off.

Mario Dunn, of Save Our Royal Mail, said: “A first–class stamp in Austria costs nearly 90p. With privatisation, the real threat in the UK is the £1 first–class stamp.

"Customers should not be held to ransom with large price increases to meet either quality–of–service improvements or the need to return large profits to private–equity owners.”