PostNL, the Dutch courier of snail mail, is actively removing mailboxes across the country due to the significant decrease in mail usage. Recently, another 300 mailboxes are being removed for lack of use. This ongoing reduction raises the question of when the iconic orange street mailbox will become a thing of the past.
Old mailboxes are collected in storage. PostNL is busy removing mailboxes across the country. © ANP
As of July 2024, there are approximately 11,000 orange mailboxes left in the Netherlands, a steep decline from the past. In 2015, there were around 19,000, which had already decreased from 23,000 a few years prior. Over the last decade, the number of mailboxes has more than halved, primarily because of the drop in mail volume. According to PostNL, daily collections often find mailboxes with little to no mail inside. Over the past twenty years, the number of mailed items (excluding packages) has dropped by about 70%. Between 2005 and 2018, the volume of sent letters halved.
So, let's all start sending more snail mail to overwhelm PostNL and bring back the glory days of the orange mailboxes!! 
Digital Content Developer and Platform Engineer at Snail Mail Friends
