PostNL is removing 300 of its 11,000 orange post boxes because they are underused.

The locations of the disappearing post boxes have been carefully selected, so as not to be in breach of the postal law, a spokesman for the company told broadcaster NOS.

The company is legally obliged to collect and deliver post within a certain time limit, which means there must be a post box within one kilometre in areas with more than 5,000 people and within 2.5 kilometres in areas with fewer than 5,000.

“If there are no or very few cards and letters in the box, it is a waste of time and money,” the spokesman told the broadcaster.

PostNL said it has discussed the matter with local councils and organisations for the elderly. In places where people are still in the habit of sending post, such as near hospitals or care homes, nothing will change.

“We have been doing this for 225 years and we know from experience how much use a post box gets,” the spokesman said.

At the same time, PostNL is putting up more automatic parcel drop off and pick up points, to cope with the shift from letters to parcel post. Many of these also have slits for letters.

“People can pick up or drop off parcels and letters in their own time. The lockers are being put in strategic places, including in villages,” the spokesman said.

The first post boxes will go in Noord-Holland, Friesland and Groningen at the end of August.

PostNL also wants to reduce deliveries to every other day because there is too little post and too few delivery workers to run a five-day operation. It also put up the price of stamps to €1.14.