Copenhagen: Danish postal service will stop delivering letters as of today, December 31st. Denmark's national postal service is set to end its traditional mail delivery service today, December 31, after mail volume has dropped by more than 90 percent since 2000, as the focus shifts to parcel delivery instead.
According to Thai News Agency, Post Nord, Denmark's national postal service, announced today, December 31st, the official end of its postal service, marking the end of a more than 400-year tradition. Since 2000, the volume of mail sent in Denmark has decreased by more than 90 percent, from 1.4 billion to less than 200 million. As Denmark becomes one of the most digitally advanced countries in the world, most communication has shifted to electronic mailboxes, reflecting changing consumer behavior and the unprofitability of the paper mail market.
Following this, Denmark's postal service has decided to focus on its growing parcel delivery business, driven by e-commerce. 1,500 of its iconic red mailboxes across the country will be dismantled. Well-preserved boxes will be auctioned off as collector's items for approximately 7,000-10,000 baht. The end of the postal service will result in the layoff of around 1,500 postal workers. To commemorate this significant change, PostNord released a special advertising campaign featuring actress Ellen Hillingzo reading a final letter to the public, signifying the end of the role of letters in Danish daily life.
Denmark is considered the first country in Europe to completely abolish state-provided postal services, a move many see as a model for other European nations to follow in the future. While most of society accepts this change, human rights groups and trade unions have concerns about vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or people with disabilities who are not tech-savvy, and who may be cut off from essential communications without the support of state postal services.