A postzegelcode is a hand-written method of

franking Franking comprises all devices, markings, or combinations thereof ("franks") applied to mails of any class which qualifies them to be postally serviced. Types of franks include postage stamps (both adhesive and printed on postal stationery, whethe ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It consists of a code containing nine numbers and letters that customers can purchase online from

PostNL PostNL N.V., commonly known as PostNL () (formerly TNT N.V.) is a Dutch mail, parcel and e-commerce company with operations mainly in the Benelux area. It provides universal delivery in the Netherlands, and is publicly listed at Euronext Amster ...

and write directly on their piece of mail within five days as proof of payment in place of a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

. For mail within the Netherlands, the nine letters and numbers are written in a three-by-three grid. For international mail there is a fourth additional row that contains P, N, L. The system was started in 2013. Initially the postzegelcode was more expensive than a stamp because additional handling systems were required. Then for a while the postzegelcode was cheaper. Eventually the rates were set to the same price. In December 2020, 590,000 people sent cards with postzegelcodes.

Safety

Since the codes are valid for only five days, the chance that someone would guess a recently purchased code is quite low. Assuming 26 letters and 9 digits (the zero is not used to avoid confusion with the letter O), there are 35⁹ (78.8 trillion) possibilities. Even if a ''postzegelcode'' were used for all mail items in the Netherlands, the probability is about 1 in 2 million that any stamp code has been sold in the past five days.

References

{{reflist

External links

PostNL, postzegelcode
Postal systems Postal markings