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Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

theguardian.com

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Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#31

Post by SoftTalker »

userbinator wrote: post #8
CrossVR wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: > Danes will still be able to send letters, using the delivery company Dao, which already delivers letters in Denmark but will expand its services from 1 January from about 30m letters in 2025 to 80m next year. But customers will instead have to go to a Dao shop to post their letters – or pay extra to have it collected from home – and pay for postage either online or via an app.

In other words they've just privatised the mail service.

More like contracted it out. You might be surprised at the amount of US mail that is delivered by contractors. They've just taken it all the way.

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#32

Post by SoftTalker »

kingofmen wrote: post #12
WalterBright wrote: post #7

It's been decades since I wrote a letter and mailed it.

How long has it been since you needed to mail a physical document to a bank, a government department, or something similar?

I mailed in my taxes last April, as I always have.

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#33

Post by Jhsto »

clickety_clack wrote: post #9
userbinator wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words they've just privatised the mail service.

With a monopoly no less.

It's not a monopoly. While FedEx, UPS, DHL, and the likes are not obliged by law to deliver mail, they will certainly do it if the price is good. Even Uber does it.

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#34

Post by bgbntty2 »

CrossVR wrote: post #5
bigfatkitten wrote: post #4

So if I’m in Denmark and I want to send my friend a piece of paper with something written on it, what happens now? I assume I have to go into the post office and send it as a parcel (at higher cost), rather than slapping a stamp on it and dropping it into the post box, but the effect is otherwise mostly the same.

From the article: > Danes will still be able to send letters, using the delivery company Dao, which already delivers letters in Denmark but will expand its services from 1 January from about 30m letters in 2025 to 80m next year. But customers will instead have to go to a Dao shop to post their letters – or pay extra to have it collected from home – and pay for postage either online or via an app.

> and pay for postage either online or via an app

No cash?

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#35

Post by Jhsto »

usr1106 wrote: post #30

Slightly related: In Finland all official mail from authorities will become electronic by default starting Jan 1st, 2026. There is the possibility to opt out. I am not convinced this is a wise direction. When Putin cuts a couple of sea cables again we are not able to access official communications. Yes, even elections are stored offshore.

Counterpoint: because most Finns think about Russian interference, the likelihood there's a tentative plan is high. Or you know, they call you. And in a country of 5m people, you can probably ask someone, who knows someone else, who knows whoever has that information in the government.

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#36

Post by SilverElfin »

I know some people are mentioning a private provider who will be around. But they will charge a lot I’m sure, and this will continue to kill the practice of writing letters or sending greeting cards. It’s a bit sad knowing people will forget the value of a personal touch, and they’ll not know what they lost when all they do is send each other a text message or whatever.

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#37

Post by usr1106 »

Jhsto wrote: post #35
usr1106 wrote: post #30

Slightly related: In Finland all official mail from authorities will become electronic by default starting Jan 1st, 2026. There is the possibility to opt out. I am not convinced this is a wise direction. When Putin cuts a couple of sea cables again we are not able to access official communications. Yes, even elections are stored offshore.

Counterpoint: because most Finns think about Russian interference, the likelihood there's a tentative plan is high. Or you know, they call you. And in a country of 5m people, you can probably ask someone, who knows someone else, who knows whoever has that information in the government.

You can ask someone who asks someone who is in the voting register or what taxes to pay? Not convinced. 5 million are more than 50.

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#38

Post by mothballed »

Jhsto wrote: post #33
clickety_clack wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a monopoly no less.

It's not a monopoly. While FedEx, UPS, DHL, and the likes are not obliged by law to deliver mail, they will certainly do it if the price is good. Even Uber does it.

Lysander Spooner tried offering letter services cheaper than the postal service in the US, and by most measures was better and cheaper at it. As it turns out as soon as you can do it cheaper, they just did what government does and used their monopoly on violence to put him in a tiny cage.

  n 1844, hearing from citizens from every party and under pressure to reform the postal system, Washington lawmakers and the Postmaster General had no intention of sitting still for any of "that Spooner's shenanigans." Suits against Spooner and his cohorts began. Railroad heads were given full warning that contracts for government mails would be removed and fines imposed unless space and passage were refused to private letter carriers. It was "round one" for the government when an agent of Spooner's company in Baltimore was found guilty and fined for transporting letters in a railroad car over a post road of the United States. Spooner himself was arrested in New York on March 7 on three charges by special agents of the Post Office. Another of his agents, Calvin Case, was held to bail for $100 around March 23 for carrying letters on the train.
https://www.pennypost.org/pdf/penny-post-archive/PennyPost20...

Re: Danish postal service to stop delivering letters

#40

Post by mkroman »

What I don't see mentioned here or in the article:

PostNord Denmark has been operating with massive losses for a while now, in part because they were required by law to be able to deliver everywhere in Denmark, when there were very little demand for it. The money just isn't there, which is why the law has been changed.

The cost of sending a letter was also just going up and up. In 2025, it cost $4.55 _per letter_.

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