Denmark’s state-run postal service, PostNord, is to end all letter deliveries at the end of 2025, citing a 90% decline in letter volumes since the start of the century. PostNord says it will switch its focus to parcel deliveries, according to BBC News.
The decision brings to an end 400 years of the company’s letter service. PostNord also operates in Sweden. It is 40% Danish-owned and 60% Swedish-owned.
Postal services across Europe are experiencing a significant decline in letter volumes. Germany’s Deutsche Post said on March 6 that it was axing 8,000 out of 187,000 jobs, and staff representatives said they feared more cuts were to come.
In the U.S. the postal service is also struggling to stay economically viable. President Donald Trump suggested in February that he would consider a major reorganization, and even a complete takeover, of the agency, and many see the effort as a way for the Trump administration to try to privatize the USPS, which he previously said he was considering. Trump is reportedly preparing to dissolve USPS’s bipartisan board of governors and place the agency under the control of the commerce department secretary, Howard Lutnick, the Washington Post recently reported.
In Denmark, the use of letters has fallen dramatically since 2000, from 1.4 billion to 110 million in 2024.
In 2016, Guatemala’s postal agency, El Correo de Guatemala, suddenly suspended service, after years of wrangling between the government and the mailing service agency over the extension of its contract.
Denmark ranks as one of the world’s most digitalized countries, with an app for almost everything. Few people use cash, and Danes even carry drivers’ licenses and health cards on their smartphones. Bank statements, bills, and correspondence from local authorities are all sent electronically. Public services send communications via a Digital Post app or other platforms and PostNord Denmark says the letter market is no longer profitable.
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