Denmark's Main Postal Carrier Ends Letter Delivery

PostNord is ending letter delivery in Denmark after a 90%+ collapse in mail volume. It marks the first known case of a national postal carrier abandoning letters entirely -- a symbolic milestone of a fully digitized society that's sparking nostalgia even among people who stopped sending mail years ago. The New York Times reports: Denmark has had a postal service for more than 400 years. But a steep decline in its use has led the Nordic country's longtime postal carrier to stop letter deliveries entirely, a change taking effect on Tuesday.

Danes have seen it coming for months: The carrier, PostNord, has been removing its red mailboxes, once a ubiquitous public fixture. The disappearance of the mailboxes is 'what actually made people emotional,' said Julia Lahme, a trend researcher and the director of Lahme, a Danish communications agency, 'even though most of them hadn't sent a letter in 18 months.'

Letter writing in the country has declined by more than 90 percent since 2000, according to PostNord, which is owned jointly by the Danish and Swedish governments. Next year, in Denmark, it will only deliver packages, although in Sweden it will continue to deliver letters.

The change comes partly as a result of a drop-off in government mail. Denmark is one of the world's most digitized countries. Only 250,000 people, or less than 5 percent of the population, still receive their official communications in the mail. 'People simply do not rely on physical letters the way they used to,' Andreas Brethvad, the communications director of PostNord Denmark, said in an emailed statement. He said that because nine in 10 Danes shop online each month, the change 'is about keeping up with times to meet the demands of society. It's a natural evolution.' The report notes that snail mail lovers will still be able to send and receive letters through Dao, a private company. 'While some Danes are quietly mourning a service that, for the most part, they had largely stopped using, the transition feels like a sign of the times,' reports the Times.

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