Bags of mail have been waiting for a while, but there is no postman to be found who can actually deliver them: Blaricummers sometimes wait for a week for mail. PostNL is dealing with a considerable backlog. The reason: staff shortage.
Many Blaricummers are now noticing the consequences of the lack of postmen. Blaricumse Karin knew that she would receive a card and a letterbox package, but had not received them after a few days of waiting.
And she’s not the only one: in the neighborhood app group it’s raining people wondering where their mail is. “Someone said she hadn’t received any mail for weeks. I had just returned from vacation and indeed saw very little mail,” says Karin.
Mailbox full of bags
She then took the plunge herself. She got on her bike and drove to the local post depot: “The door of the warehouse was open and then I saw all kinds of bags of mail. The boy who was standing there at the time had walked another neighborhood and couldn’t help either. There is just understaffed.”
Not getting mail is not only annoying, but also causes all kinds of problems. “People are waiting for bank login details, bills or papers from the RDW,” Karin sums up after conversations with fellow villagers. Fortunately, she had received a funeral card in time, but that was not the case for everyone. “A little further on, someone received the mourning card the day after the funeral.”
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The Blaricum neighborhood would like to help sort the mail if necessary. Yesterday Karin cycled back to the depot to see how things are going. “They deployed extra people and there were already a lot fewer bags,” she says. Because of the extra staff, she is confident that the mail will still be delivered.
Staff shortage
PostNL spokesperson Dagna Hoogkamer acknowledges that mail delivery in Blaricum is indeed not in order. “The mail can sometimes be a few days later. There are problems with the occupation because of the tight labor market.”
An external company must clear the backlog in the coming days, but that is anything but a permanent solution. “Staff shortage is a structural problem and we are looking hard for new mail deliverers,” explains Hoogkamer. “People rightly sound the alarm if they have to wait longer for the mail. We simply can’t do it now.”
wait
Hoogkamer does not know when mail delivery will return to normal. She hopes that people also understand the situation. “People know that there is a shortage on the labor market. We are not unique in this.”
“We apologize to the people who are affected by this,” says Hoogkamer. “It’s very annoying. People rely on us.” Local residents cannot collect their mail from the depot themselves. “That’s not the way we work. Collection is not an option.”