Denmark bids farewell to centuries of letter deliveries

Listen to Senior Reporter Noah Haynes read this article:

Copenhagen, DENMARK – The iconic red postboxes on streetcorners across Denmark will begin disappearing this year as the state-run post service phases out letter delivery, citing a steep decline in use.

After 400 years of service, the entity now known as PostNord will cease letter delivery at the end of 2025. The 1,500 postboxes across Denmark will be removed in the second half of this year. 

“We have been the Danes post service for 400 years, and therefore it is hard to finish this part of history,” said PostNord Chief Executive Officer Kim Pedersen in a press release.

As of January 1, 2026 PostNord will also no longer be the tender of international mail. A press officer from the Danish Ministry of Transport said a new tender will be chosen later this year.

Since 2000, PostNord has had a reduction in letter sales of 90% according to PostNord’s statistics.

PostNord said it will change its focus to the parcel trade.

As a nation, Denmark is ranked third among countries surveyed as most digitally competent, according to the International Institute for Management Development World Digital Competitiveness Ranking.

Around 95% of Danish citizens use Digital Post, an online platform that allows government bodies to contact citizens, but just over 270,000 citizens – about 5% – still receive physical letters from the government, according to the statistics from the last quarter of 2024 by the Danish Digital Government Department.

“We expect that the public sector will continue to send physical letters to those who are exempt from Digital Post. It will just be with a different operator than PostNord,” the PostNord press release said.

Exemptions that allow people to receive paper letters instead of using the online platform include not having access to a computer, not being able to use a computer due to a disability, not having an address or a permanent address, having left the country or not being able to speak Danish.

Currently, those who do not receive Digital Post can respond to letters with a telephone call or letter to the government office.

Currently it is possible to buy a stamp in a supermarket without having to use the internet or a computer. After this year, stamps will only be available for purchase from dao. The company currently sells stamps only online.

After a new law in 2024 that allowed private companies to send letters, the postal firm dao has started sending them.

“The letter is not dying out,” the company said in a press release posted on its website.

Dao’s Administrative Director Hans Peter Nordstrøm Nissen told YJI in an email that an increase of 30 million letters next year is expected.

“We would like to sell the stamps in our dao shops, but so far the interest has been modest. We believe it will be easier in the future,” Nissen said.

Of the 2,200 employees currently working in the letters department, 700 will be offered jobs in the parcel section, with 1,500 employees being laid off, according to PostNord.

“We are in close dialogue with the relevant trade unions, and we will do everything we can to support all of our employees in moving forward in the best possible way,” said PostNord’s Pedersen.

Dzevad Ramic, who is chairman of the postal worker’s union 3F Post, said, “Our primary focus will be retraining and connecting with businesses that need workers.”

Ramic added, “We will do everything we can to ensure that none of our members are left behind.”

Noah Haynes is a Senior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.