Hacker News

Denmark becomes first country in world to end letter delivery

25 points by Tomte ago | 19 comments

shaky-carrousel |next [-]

PostNord AB is a private company and has been for some years, so the idea that this is a government service being withdrawn is untrue.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 |root |parent [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

You called it a private company, it's not.

cinntaile |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

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.

vitaelabitur |next |previous [-]

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 |root |parent [-]

This is already happening with cassette tapes and Walkman (is the plural of Walkman Walkmen or Walkmans?)

cbluth |root |parent [-]

I'd say its "Walkmany"

pvtmert |next |previous [-]

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.

schoen |next |previous [-]

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.

bryanrasmussen |next |previous [-]

Local news in English version of article, doesn't really say anything new though: 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).

TheChaplain |next |previous [-]

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.

Larrikin |next |previous [-]

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

cinntaile |root |parent [-]

Honestly the post office was probably very happy to get this off their hands. They have much better margins on packages.

Larrikin |root |parent [-]

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.

cjbenedikt |next |previous [-]

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

ranguna |next |previous [-]

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 |previous [-]

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