Postzegelcode

It consists of a code containing nine numbers and letters that customers can purchase online from PostNL and write directly on their piece of mail within five days as proof of payment in place of a postage stamp.

[1] 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.

[2] Initially the postzegelcode was more expensive than a stamp because additional handling systems were required.

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.