A Guide to the Dutch Postage System

Staying in touch with family and friends from back home has never been easier with services like Facebook, Skype and Email. But sometimes it is just nice to send a real birthday card or package of gifts and treats. But how and what can it cost to do that?

The main postal service in the Netherlands is PostNL. You may have seen their orange post boxes dotted around the city, or you can visit one of their shops, usually located inside a News Agent (e.g. Primera) or supermarket (you can spot them by their logo displayed on a window or sign, or look them up online, www.postnl.nl/en/).

The postage cost depends on the size and weight of what you are sending and where you are sending it to.

Letterbox mail is used for sending anything that fits through the letterbox (max size of 38 x 26 x 3 cm). If you are sending something within the Netherlands then you use ‘Nederland’ stamps, or if you are sending something anywhere else then you use ‘International’ stamps. Currently, a single ‘Nederland’ stamp costs €0,73 and a single ‘International’ stamp costs €1,25. The number of stamps needed to send something depends on the weight of the letter.

If that all seems too confusing (and if you don’t send mail often it can be) then you can take what you need to post to a PostNL shop and they will check and weigh it for you so you pay the correct postage.

If you are sending a parcel, there are a few options. You can send it with PostNL and they have several different rates depending on which country you are sending to and the weight of the parcel. It is easiest to use the online calculator to get the correct price (www.postnl.nl/en/). As a guide a 2kg parcel to the UK would cost €13, or to the USA €24,30. You can also send without track and trace for a cheaper price.

Alternatively you can send using DHL (www.dhlparcel.nl/en) which can be cheaper, especially for larger parcels. You purchase the shipping label online, print it off and stick it to your parcel before taking it to a drop-off point. As a guide a 2kg parcel within Western Europe costs €10 and to the USA would cost €24.

If you are sending a parcel outside the EU you need to include a CN22 or CN23 customs form on the parcel. You can download this form online, or fill it in when you take your parcel to a PostNL shop.

PostNL fee booklet 2016 (in English)
DHL fee booklet 2016 (in English)

If you are receiving mail, especially from outside the EU, keep in mind there may be custom fees depending on the value of the parcel. If it is marked as a ‘gift’ it can have a value of up to €45 before you have to pay custom fees. If it was a shop purchase then if it is worth over €21 (excluding shipping) you have to pay BTW and handling fees, and over €150 you pay custom fees on top of that.