TNT Post Group N.V.

You don't get to be one of Europe's biggest deliverers of packages and mail by picking poorly located hubs. I guess the same goes for picking a headquarters location. TNT Post Group's six-story head office is strategically located with Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport a quick five minute drive away, the nearest freeway a measly 60 seconds away and train tracks directly across the street.

Located in a new business park, it isn't hard finding the place because the company's name is in big letters atop the sides of the structure. On the one side of the building is a large man-made pond with a bizarre looking sculpture. It's of a man on a platform getting ready to dive but there's a very large stream of water shooting out and depending on which angle you're seeing it from-it looks like he's relieving himself.

Walking into the lobby there's nothing to let you know you're visiting one of the big boys in the delivery business-no model planes, trucks, globes or wall maps of the world. After explaining who I am and what I do to the receptionist, she phones CEO Ad Scheepbouwer's secretary to find out who ended up with my letter of introduction. The answer: they don't have a record of receiving the letter. Hmm, this isn't good especially since TNT Post is also responsible for delivering the postal mail in The Netherlands. As I've mentioned many, many times before, it invariably turns out the letter was received but got misdirected, misplaced, misrouted or one of a dozen others errors caused by sloppy in-house mail service.

Just when things were looking bleak out steps Debbie de Wagenaar, Director-Press Office & Public Relations. Though she hasn't a clue as to who I am or what I'm doing she graciously agrees to meet with me, answer questions and show me around the place. I'm impressed with her flexibility, especially when she could have easily told me to take a hike. Wagenaar, who has a great sense of humor, says she's good at sizing-up people and figured I was on the "up and up".

Built in 1998, about 350 people work here. I ask about the sculpture man in the pond and Wagenaar says the company has nothing to do with the selection since they're only renters.

There's plenty of free parking for cars and bicycles. Smoking is allowed only in designated smoking rooms. Who's got the best views? It's the employees eating lunch thanks to the cafeteria being located on the top floor. Where does the CEO hang his hat? On the ground floor next to the pond. How close is Scheepbouwer to the pond? He could toss a licked stamp into the water. Which brings me to employee perks; discounts on stamps.