3 ms·

Denmark becomes first country in world to end letter delivery

28 points by Tomte 10mo ago

schoen 10mo ago
Whoa, I sent a postcard to a Danish colleague last year! Does this mean I can't do that again in the future? Would this private company deliver personal correspondence originating from abroad? Edit: I asked an LLM, which told me that we can still send letters to Denmark from abroad, but that Danes themselves will have to go to the new private contractor to send outgoing mail (instead of using their postal service). The private contractor will apparently still do regular residential and business delivery, including for mail that originates outside of Denmark.
vitaelabitur 10mo ago
I wouldn't be surprised to see all of us deeply fetishizing the analog experience in the coming years. Activities like letter writing might get gentrified, with private businesses charging a premium for delivery.
- iancmceachern 10mo ago
  This is already happening with cassette tapes and Walkman (is the plural of Walkman Walkmen or Walkmans?)
  - cbluth 10mo ago
    I'd say its "Walkmany"
cinntaile 10mo ago
It's no longer the state-owned post office that delivers it, that's all. It's not like Denmark all of a sudden stops with physical letters...
- bell-cot 10mo ago
  Yep. It's yet another case of "journalism" where the facts contradict the headline, and they only 'fess up in the final lines of the story: > Danes can still send a love letter or a Christmas card in 2026, but only through a private company. > They must either drop it at a shop, or pay extra to have it collected from home, which is available online or via an app. > By law, Danes must always be able to send a letter. If a private company stops delivering them, the government must step in with a new provider.
Larrikin 10mo ago
How much does a private company need to pay to achieve this goal in the different countries around the world?
- cinntaile 10mo ago
  Honestly the post office was probably very happy to get this off their hands. They have much better margins on packages.
  - Larrikin 10mo ago
    Government should provide an important service to its citizens at atleast a minimum viable level. No one is accusing Denmark of corruption in it's delivery of letters so profitability should not be a consideration.
    - cinntaile 10mo ago
      It's not clear to me what service is not being provided? Citizens still receive their mail.
TheChaplain 10mo ago
I hope the charges are on the sending part, if I would have to sign up to receive letters I see some issues.. And yeah, elderly and digitalization is not always working well. Where I live the average age is ~80, and people need assistance to use the laundry machine. The booking system for the public facilities such as laundry services is a piece of paper.
bryanrasmussen 10mo ago
Local news in English version of article, doesn't really say anything new though: https://www.thelocal.dk/20251230/postnord-to-deliver-last-ever-letters-in-denmark https://www.thelocal.dk/20251230/postnord-to-deliver-last-ev... In my experience the Danish postal service for correct delivery of letters has been subpar in relation to American postal service (of course my American experience is from decades ago).
shaky-carrousel 10mo ago
PostNord AB is a private company and has been for some years, so the idea that this is a government service being withdrawn is untrue. Danish law requires everyone to have access to postal services for letters. Therefore another private company, DAO, will provide postal delivery to everyone in Denmark and the ability for everyone in Denmark to send letters from DAO service points (in shops, etc). A significant subsidy is being provided to DAO to enable a universal delivery service. DAO will be the national postal service for international treaty (UPU) purposes, enabling letter and small parcel post between Denmark and other countries according to UPU agreements.
- cinntaile 10mo ago
  It's legally structured as a private company, but it's really not. It's 60% owned by the Swedish state and 40% by the Danish state.
  - shaky-carrousel 10mo ago
    Right. Then the accurate description is that it's a state-owned commercial company, not a government agency. Ownership by states doesn't make it a public service. It makes it a company whose shareholders happen to be governments. It still operates under corporate law, not administrative law, and it was explicitly removed from being a state service. Calling that "not really private" is just rhetorical framing, not a legal or operational distinction.
    - cinntaile 10mo ago
      It's not privately owned so it's not really a private company even if it has to abide by the same laws. I don't get why you accuse me of rhetorical framing, it's what the ownership situation looks like.
      - shaky-carrousel 10mo ago
        Fair enough; we're using different definitions of "private." I'm using it in the legal/operational sense relevant to whether a government service was withdrawn (agency vs company, public law vs company law). By that definition, it's a private company. You're using it in a shareholder-ownership sense. That's a valid perspective, but it's a different question than the one being discussed here.
ranguna 10mo ago
Ah yes, fake news. Just because a private company is running the mail service, doesn't mean letter delivery is being discontinued. Letter delivery is subsidized by the government.
onetokeoverthe 10mo ago
[dead]
pvtmert 10mo ago
Clarifications: They still can-send and receive letters but sending letters now requiring going to a shop and handing them over. Previously, you could buy a set of stamps and envelopes (possibly prepaid ones) put your letter into an envelope and drop it to a nearby postage box. (the red mailboxes article is mentioning) Meanwhile for the receiving end it is the same, the letters will get dropped to your mailbox. If those require signature or receipt validation, you probably need to go to a nearby postal office to collect them if you were not at home at the time of delivery. Only bummer is that a private company is handling all these mailing operations. Hence, prices are going to substantially increase in order to keep the profits high enough.
cjbenedikt 10mo ago
The author hasn't been to Baltimore, MD...:-p
ChrisArchitect 10mo ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46350391 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46350391

28 points by Tomte 10mo ago

schoen 10mo ago

Whoa, I sent a postcard to a Danish colleague last year! Does this mean I can't do that again in the future? Would this private company deliver personal correspondence originating from abroad? Edit: I asked an LLM, which told me that we can still send letters to Denmark from abroad, but that Danes themselves will have to go to the new private contractor to send outgoing mail (instead of using their postal service). The private contractor will apparently still do regular residential and business delivery, including for mail that originates outside of Denmark.

vitaelabitur 10mo ago

I wouldn't be surprised to see all of us deeply fetishizing the analog experience in the coming years. Activities like letter writing might get gentrified, with private businesses charging a premium for delivery.

iancmceachern 10mo ago
This is already happening with cassette tapes and Walkman (is the plural of Walkman Walkmen or Walkmans?)
- cbluth 10mo ago
  I'd say its "Walkmany"

cinntaile 10mo ago

It's no longer the state-owned post office that delivers it, that's all. It's not like Denmark all of a sudden stops with physical letters...

bell-cot 10mo ago
Yep. It's yet another case of "journalism" where the facts contradict the headline, and they only 'fess up in the final lines of the story: > Danes can still send a love letter or a Christmas card in 2026, but only through a private company. > They must either drop it at a shop, or pay extra to have it collected from home, which is available online or via an app. > By law, Danes must always be able to send a letter. If a private company stops delivering them, the government must step in with a new provider.

Larrikin 10mo ago

How much does a private company need to pay to achieve this goal in the different countries around the world?

cinntaile 10mo ago
Honestly the post office was probably very happy to get this off their hands. They have much better margins on packages.
- Larrikin 10mo ago
  Government should provide an important service to its citizens at atleast a minimum viable level. No one is accusing Denmark of corruption in it's delivery of letters so profitability should not be a consideration.
  - cinntaile 10mo ago
    It's not clear to me what service is not being provided? Citizens still receive their mail.

TheChaplain 10mo ago

I hope the charges are on the sending part, if I would have to sign up to receive letters I see some issues.. And yeah, elderly and digitalization is not always working well. Where I live the average age is ~80, and people need assistance to use the laundry machine. The booking system for the public facilities such as laundry services is a piece of paper.

bryanrasmussen 10mo ago

Local news in English version of article, doesn't really say anything new though: https://www.thelocal.dk/20251230/postnord-to-deliver-last-ever-letters-in-denmark https://www.thelocal.dk/20251230/postnord-to-deliver-last-ev... In my experience the Danish postal service for correct delivery of letters has been subpar in relation to American postal service (of course my American experience is from decades ago).

shaky-carrousel 10mo ago

PostNord AB is a private company and has been for some years, so the idea that this is a government service being withdrawn is untrue. Danish law requires everyone to have access to postal services for letters. Therefore another private company, DAO, will provide postal delivery to everyone in Denmark and the ability for everyone in Denmark to send letters from DAO service points (in shops, etc). A significant subsidy is being provided to DAO to enable a universal delivery service. DAO will be the national postal service for international treaty (UPU) purposes, enabling letter and small parcel post between Denmark and other countries according to UPU agreements.

cinntaile 10mo ago
It's legally structured as a private company, but it's really not. It's 60% owned by the Swedish state and 40% by the Danish state.
- shaky-carrousel 10mo ago
  Right. Then the accurate description is that it's a state-owned commercial company, not a government agency. Ownership by states doesn't make it a public service. It makes it a company whose shareholders happen to be governments. It still operates under corporate law, not administrative law, and it was explicitly removed from being a state service. Calling that "not really private" is just rhetorical framing, not a legal or operational distinction.
  - cinntaile 10mo ago
    It's not privately owned so it's not really a private company even if it has to abide by the same laws. I don't get why you accuse me of rhetorical framing, it's what the ownership situation looks like.
    - shaky-carrousel 10mo ago
      Fair enough; we're using different definitions of "private." I'm using it in the legal/operational sense relevant to whether a government service was withdrawn (agency vs company, public law vs company law). By that definition, it's a private company. You're using it in a shareholder-ownership sense. That's a valid perspective, but it's a different question than the one being discussed here.

ranguna 10mo ago

Ah yes, fake news. Just because a private company is running the mail service, doesn't mean letter delivery is being discontinued. Letter delivery is subsidized by the government.

onetokeoverthe 10mo ago

[dead]

pvtmert 10mo ago

Clarifications: They still can-send and receive letters but sending letters now requiring going to a shop and handing them over. Previously, you could buy a set of stamps and envelopes (possibly prepaid ones) put your letter into an envelope and drop it to a nearby postage box. (the red mailboxes article is mentioning) Meanwhile for the receiving end it is the same, the letters will get dropped to your mailbox. If those require signature or receipt validation, you probably need to go to a nearby postal office to collect them if you were not at home at the time of delivery. Only bummer is that a private company is handling all these mailing operations. Hence, prices are going to substantially increase in order to keep the profits high enough.

cjbenedikt 10mo ago

The author hasn't been to Baltimore, MD...:-p

ChrisArchitect 10mo ago

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46350391 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46350391