In today's Last Mile Brief, we bring you news interesting news on the postal market in the Netherlands, plus info on Instacart's attempts to harness AI and why Australia Post is suspending some services in Alice Springs.

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Today’s headline story: DHL to take on PostNL by undercutting on some mail deliveries

According to reports in the Netherlands, DHL is challenging “monopolist” PostNL by undercutting its competitor’s price for sending envelopes with a weight under 500 grams.

As wnl.tv writes, from Q2 of this year, consumers in the Netherlands will have access to mail deliveries via DHL on top of the existing PostNL service.

In order to try and woo customers to its services, DHL is reportedly set to charge €2.95 for the delivery of an envelope weighing under 500 grams. This is lower than PostNL’s prices, which can stretch to over €4 for envelopes weighing over 350 grams.

Interestingly, Deutsche Post, the owner of DHL, was previously active in the Dutch business postal market under the guise of Selektmail. In 2011, the company was sold to Sandd before it changed hands again to PostNL in 2019.

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Photo: Marcelo Campi / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0