Writing and sending letters is now something only a few people do For this reason, many postal services around the world are downsizing

With the end of 2025, the letter delivery service in Denmark also came to an end, after being carried out for more than 400 years by the public postal company. The state-owned company that until now has handled correspondence between Danish citizens will entrust the delivery of letters to a private operator and will focus exclusively on parcel delivery, an increasingly important area due to online shopping.

To accompany this transition, the company, called PostNord, launched a communication campaign framing the end of the service as the beginning of a new phase. The decision to suspend letter delivery is mainly linked to the gradual shift toward digital communication. Over the past 25 years, the number of letters sent in Denmark has fallen by 90 percent, dropping from 1.4 billion in 2000 to around 110 million in 2024. In this context, maintaining a public service for the collection, sorting, and delivery of traditional mail had become economically unsustainable, with significant environmental impacts as well.

What is the state of postal services around the world?

Denmark is not the only country to have gradually scaled back its traditional postal service. In Germany, for example, as of April 2024 Deutsche Post eliminated air transport for the delivery of letters and parcels within the country, shifting much of its logistics to the rail network. The decision was driven both by environmental concerns and by the structural decline of paper correspondence.

Similar choices have also been adopted in other European countries. In the Netherlands, PostNL has reduced the frequency of letter delivery, which no longer takes place daily but on alternate days, while in Finland the postal service Posti has for several years limited the delivery of standard mail to a maximum of three times a week. In Norway, by contrast, the postal service has progressively dismantled many mailboxes and restricted letter distribution, focusing primarily on parcel logistics.

The United States are also facing a deep transformation of their postal system. The US Postal Service has revised delivery standards, extending delivery times for standard mail and focusing on a reorganization of the network to contain financial losses. In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, Royal Mail has repeatedly announced a reduction in the number of days letters are delivered, arguing that the daily model is no longer sustainable.

Traditional postal services adapt to the 21st century

Traditional postal services are therefore adapting to a context in which paper correspondence has not been central for some time, while e-commerce continues to grow, and with it the pressure to make infrastructure more efficient and environmentally sustainable. This transformation, however, is not without consequences, especially on a social level, since the shift to new service models is not always painless.

Among the most visible effects of the end of PostNord’s service, for example, was the removal of around 1,500 mailboxes across the country, spread throughout Denmark since the late nineteenth century and easily recognizable by their bright red color. Many of these were sold at auction as part of a charitable initiative organized by the company. The event attracted widespread media attention, and the mailboxes sold out within just a few hours, often purchased by collectors, local museums, and citizens interested in preserving an iconic piece of Northern European history.

Are young people rediscovering the appeal of letters?

Despite the sharp downsizing of the postal sector, letters do not seem to have disappeared entirely. According to the Danish company, for example, they remain essential above all for the roughly 270,000 people in Denmark who do not use the official digital mail system, about 5 percent of the population, mostly older individuals or people with limited access to online services. At the same time, there is renewed interest in paper correspondence among younger generations as well, who are rediscovering handwritten letters as a slower and more personal form of communication, often in reaction to the pervasiveness of smartphones and social networks.

This renewed interest among younger people is not always just a suggestion. As reported by the New York Times, in several Western countries recent years have seen the rise of analog pen pal projects, letter-writing clubs, and subscriptions to high-quality stationery, often promoted through digital platforms but with a deliberately offline outcome. Some high schools and universities have introduced handwriting workshops as optional activities, also to counter the loss of skills related to penmanship and sustained concentration.

From an economic perspective, this micro renaissance of letter writing does not offset the structural decline of the sector, but it does bring with it some interesting signals. Sales of writing paper, envelopes, and fountain pens are growing in specific segments, while small printing houses and independent stationery shops are finding new customers. This is not nostalgia, but a functional response to a communication environment now seen as saturated.