Struggling Dutch postal service PostNL will stop collecting mail posted after 5pm from next month in an effort to save “millions” in staff costs, the company has said.

The Dutch are sending an average of six cards or letters a year,” mail division director Maurice Unck told the AD. “Every evening some 1000 drivers and vans go out to collect mail. It’s expensive, inefficient and unsustainable. For those peak hours we often have to hire extra people as well,” he said.

Some 7,500 of the 10,000 post boxes will be affected by the measure. The other 2,500 post boxes are situated in busy locations, such as shopping centres and train stations.

Post boxes for medical mail and funeral cards will be exempt. Unck said the 2500 late collection post boxes are within 1 kilometre of 80% of users, with the exception of people in small villages.

PostNL has already cut the number of post delivery days from six to five and is pressing for longer delivery times. However, opposition from MPs forced economic affairs minister Dirk Beljaard to retract his support for the plan.

Unck said he expects the 48-hour delivery time will eventually find favour in the eyes of consumer watchdog ACM, which is studying the proposal. “In the meantime, we are looking at other measures to make the postal service future-proof. Spreading the collection of mail is one of them,” Unck said.

PostNL, whose share price stands at just over €1, is expecting the measure to save several million euros a year.