Denmark is ending delivery of physical letters after a steep decline in letter volumes driven largely by digitalisation.
PostNord Denmark’s postal service has announced that it will cease letter services at the end of the year.
It will bring to an end four centuries of letter deliveries by the state-owned operation.
A third of its workforce is being let go, as it sheds 2,200 positions in its loss-making letter arm. Instead, it will focus on its profitable parcel business, creating 700 new roles.
“Danes hardly receive any letters anymore. It’s been going down for years and years,” says Kim Pedersen, chief of PostNord Denmark. “They’re receiving one letter a month on average, it’s not a lot.”
“On the contrary, Danes love to shop online,” he adds. “Global e-commerce is growing significantly, and we are moving with it.”
Fifteen years ago, PostNord operated several enormous letter-sorting facilities, but now there’s just one on the western outskirts of Copenhagen.
Since 2000, the volume of letters the business handles has declined by more than 90%, from around 1.4 billion to 110 million last year, and it continues to fall rapidly.
Sorting through bundles of letters, small packages and magazines, Herman Moyano is getting ready for his early morning post round.
Cargo bikes and vans stream out from the depot, just north of Copenhagen, as Herman departs on his scooter.
For the past seven years, he’s been delivering mail for Denmark’s national postal service PostNord.
“I used to think that all the people are waiting for something, a special letter, a special communication, a special package,” he says.
However, Herman has noticed the loads getting lighter, and rather than letters, these days it’s mostly bills and bank statements.
“I have seen the mail going down gradually. But that’s picked up pace over the last couple of years,” he adds. “Nowadays, it seems… it’s going really, really down.”
