Spotta, the national distributor of advertising brochures, will also start delivering mail. The company wants to compete with PostNL, which is currently the only national mail carrier in the Netherlands.
Spotta registered with the regulator Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM) this month, reports Het Financieele Dagblad (FD). The registration is an obligation under the Postal Act and comes at a time of debate about PostNL’s strong position.
With this registration, Spotta is the second national mail carrier in the Netherlands alongside PostNL. In addition, there are also some regional mail carriers.
The company currently delivers weekly newspapers and advertising brochures from supermarkets, drugstores and other stores to more than 4 million households. This unaddressed printed matter is therefore outside the regulated postal market.
PostNL fiercely defends the postal market and challenged Spotta three times in court for delivering addressed advertising brochures. Spotta won every time because the brochures were ordered via their website. As a result, this mail does not fall under the rules for letter post.
According to Spotta director Yme Pasma, the company has a multi-year plan and plans to invest 20 million euros in mail delivery, with a strong focus on addressed advertising mail.