Send a love letter for free on National Day

19 July 2005

BRUSSELS — The Post Group will celebrate Belgium’s 175th birthday on Thursday by offering the public free postal services.

Every letter or postcard placed in a red post box on the 21 July anniversary will be delivered for free in an offer without precedent.

However, all of the letters must be destined for Belgian addresses and the addresses must be handwritten, newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ reported on Tuesday.

“We don’t expect a stampede,” post spokesman Piet van Speybroeck said.

He said the idea had been around for some time, but to prevent mass posting the company kept the plan secret for several weeks.

Van Speybroeck said there is no company that can handwrite the addresses on 10,000 letters by Thursday. If they can, they will “earn” the Post Group’s “charity”.

“But we hope that normal people will send a friendship or love letter, something they otherwise would not do on that day,” Van Speybroeck said.

The Post Group will also hand out 200,000 postcards to party goers at various 21 July festivals. Some of them can be used to send a congratulatory note to King Albert II.

Subject: Belgian news