The Postman No Longer Delivers In Denmark
By Bob Small
PostNord, Denmark’s 400-year-old national postal authority, delivered its final letter, on Dec. 30.
PostNord reported an operating deficit of 428 million Krone ($67,153,200 in US dollars).
The amount of letters has decreaseds by 90 percent since 2000. Since Danish Law mandates that citizens must be able to send and receive letters, a company called DAO is available, though one has to use their stamps.
Germany’s Deutsche Post scrapped its 60-year-old next-day air mail delivery service last year and is currently laying off thousands of workers. Poland’s Poczta Polska is similarly slashing thousands of jobs in a bid to reduce losses.
The decrease in physical letters can be traced to the computer. According to PostNord, physical letters have declined from almost 1.5 billion (2000) to only 110 million (2024). Additionally, “Since 2014, all public sector communiques, including those from banks, insurance companies, and pension companies, must by law be sent digitally. “
PostNord has been a joint operation since 2009, when the Danish and Swedish services merged.
It should be noted that around 1,500 jobs are estimated to be lost. Meanwhile, DAO expects growth, from young adults 18 to 34, who are rediscovering physical missives.
Meanwhile in Great Britain, the Royal Mail is ending Saturday deliveries of second-class mail and daily deliveries to be reduced to either two or three times a week. Royal Mail, by the way, is now owned by Czech Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The parcel services will continue, for now, but they’re now on a time clock.
“The final letter sent by PostNord is now on display at Denmark’s Enigma Museum, commemorating the historic shift in how the nation communicates. “
In the US, mail has dropped 80 percent since 1997.
If Hamlet had become king, this never would have happened.
We have FedEx, UPS and overnight express services plus a myriad of other options. Benjamin Franklin himself would dissolve the USPS if he were around today to see this debacle that can’t survive without subsidies.
PS MIBs are a vector for cheating and stealing elections.