Denmark’s national postal service has officially delivered its final letter.
PostNord completed its last letter delivery in Denmark on Tuesday, Dec. 30, bringing to a close a postal tradition that began more than 400 years ago, according to CNN and The New York Times.
The state-run service announced in 2025 that it would end letter delivery as part of a broader restructuring that includes cutting 1,500 jobs in Denmark and removing 1,500 of the country’s iconic red postboxes, The Guardian reported.
PostNord said the move reflects Denmark’s rapid shift toward digital communication, noting that demand for physical mail has “fallen drastically” in recent years. The volume of letters delivered by the service dropped by 94% in 2024 compared with levels in 2000, according to CNN.
Letter delivery in Denmark dates back to 1624, The Guardian reported. PostNord itself was created in 2009 through a merger of the Swedish and Danish postal services.
Andreas Brethvad, PostNord Denmark’s public affairs and communications director, told CNN that physical letters no longer play the role they once did in everyday life.
“Almost every Dane is fully digital,” Brethvad said. “Most communication now arrives in our electronic mailboxes, and the reality today is that e-commerce and the parcel market far outweigh traditional mail.”
While letter delivery has ended in Denmark, PostNord will continue to deliver letters in Sweden, The New York Times reported. The company will also maintain its parcel delivery operations within Denmark.
Letters can still be sent through a private company, Dao, which is expected to expand its services following PostNord’s exit from letter delivery, according to reports. Customers must either drop off mail at a Dao location or pay an additional fee for home pickup, The Guardian reported.
Marlene Rishoej Cordes, a spokesperson for the DaneAge Association, told CNN that Dao’s services require customers to pay digitally, raising concerns about accessibility.
“It’s very easy for us to access our mail on the phone or a website,” Cordes said, “but we forgot to give the same possibilities to those who are not digital.”
