Denmark becomes first nation to end letter deliveries
Denmark became the first country in the world to stop public letter distribution due to digitalization.
Swedish-Danish postal company PostNord delivered its last letters on Tuesday local time, ending its 401 years of service.
Denmark is one of the most digitized countries in the world and the number of letters has fallen by 90 percent since 2000, the state-run company said in March.
PostNord said it plans to instead focus entirely on package deliveries as online shopping continues to grow.
On Tuesday, the service delivered its latest letter to Copenhagen’s ENIGMA Communications Museum, which will become a permanent part of the exhibition.
The state-run postal service began removing the country’s 1,500 red public mailboxes in the second half of 2025 and stopped selling stamps on December 18.
Since mid-December, interested parties have been able to purchase one of 1,000 boxes of what PostNord puts “a small piece of Danish cultural heritage”.
Depending on their condition, they cost between $A340 and $A470. Proceeds will go to charities. Within a few days, all the mailboxes were sold.
Starting in January, another 200 boxes will be auctioned, including some designed by Danish artists.
Other examples of mailboxes, which have been a part of the Danish landscape for more than 170 years, are likely to find a place in museums.
Letter delivery in Denmark has become increasingly scarce and more expensive in recent years.
Denmark is not the only country where the letter business is in decline: Deutsche Post says it will cut 8,000 jobs by the end of 2025, while Royal Mail in the UK has been arguing for some time that letters should not be delivered on all weekdays.
Going forward, Danes will be able to continue sending letters through other logistics companies, such as the smaller DAO.
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