door Alongside the well-known blue envelope (tax office), mourning mail is one of the types of post that virtually everyone receives at some point during the year. PostNL naturally recognises the importance of timely delivery, and any delay is undesirable. Although Monday deliveries were discontinued quite some time ago (as of 1 January 2014), mourning cards (along with medical mail) are still delivered on Mondays.
Since Monday 12 May 2025, PostNL has changed its procedure regarding mourning post that needs to be delivered on a Monday. Rather than being handed over to a regular letter carrier, mourning mail is now given to the parcel courier for delivery, as part of efficiency measures. Parcels are already being delivered on Mondays anyway.
Pictured is a mourning envelope that was sent locally in Hilversum. What stands out immediately is the 3S code sprayed onto the envelope. This is unusual for letter post, but as mourning mail is now sent as a parcel for Monday delivery, this code is necessary to ensure everything proceeds smoothly. This process takes place nationwide, exclusively at the sorting centre in Nieuwegein.
The Procedure
Mourning mail that is to be delivered on a Monday can be sent between Friday 12:00 noon and Sunday 17:00 via a medical postbox, in a special mourning collection envelope. This mourning envelope must be registered in advance with PostNL.
All medical postboxes across the country are emptied at 17:00 on Sundays, and all such post is sent to the sorting centre in Nieuwegein. There, everything is sorted and marked with a date stamp sprayed on by the SOSMA (Schift- Opzet en StempelMachine Sorting, Setup and Stamping Machine), and assigned a 3S code.
In order to test the system (including the spraying and the rest of the delivery chain), mourning mail is occasionally given a 3S code on other days as well, such as in the example pictured, which was sent on Friday 27 June.
