After Five Centuries, Danish Post Says No More Letters

The era of Danish postal workers defiantly not letting “snow nor rain nor heat” stop their deliveries may be ending as the country’s postal service has decided it will deliver its last letter at the end of this year, the Guardian reported.

The Danish postal service, PostNord, said it would remove 1,500 of the beloved red mailboxes and cut 1,500 jobs in Denmark due to the country’s “increasing digitalization.”

The postal service has been delivering letters since 1624. However, letter circulation has dropped by more than 90 percent since the start of the new millennium – Denmark is one of the world’s most digitalized countries, the BBC explained.

PostNord will now focus on packages.

Last year, Denmark opened up the letter market to competition from private firms, and now customers must pay sales tax to send mail. As a result, critics blame the service’s cutbacks on that move, which led to higher postage costs.

Despite the changes, the government says it will still be possible to send and receive letters in Denmark. DAO, the distributor that won the postal delivery contract, said it is ready to strengthen its services.

The elderly will be the most affected by this decision, as many still rely on physical letters for important communications, the news outlet said.

The postal company also operates in Sweden, which holds a 60 percent stake, while Denmark owns 40 percent. Letter distribution in Sweden will not be affected.

Digitalization has led to other postal services struggling, with Deutsche Post in Germany announcing thousands of job cuts on Thursday.