The Economist - Europe | Gonna sit right down and write myself a letter : Denmark gets ready to cancel Christmas cards - How is going with this in the country where you live?

[John Hjorth]

The Economist - Europe - Gonna sit right down and write myself a letter [November 27^th 2025] : The Danish post is the first to end letter collection, but others will follow

 

Subtitle : The Danish post is the first to end letter collection, but others will follow

 

Summary :

 

• Denmark will become the first European country to cease letter collection and delivery, driven by a 90% decline in letter volume over 25 years and a new law ending the universal service obligation.
• While global letter volumes have plummeted, parcel shipments are rising, with some postal services like Italy's Poste Italiane and Germany's Deutsche Post DHL thriving through diversification.
• State-owned postal services face challenges, with Greece and Canada experiencing closures and strikes, and the USPS reporting significant losses. Denmark's move may set a precedent for others.

 

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Everyone knew that this very day was coming fast in over the horizon. And now we're there, suddenly. Feels strange, 10 years from now, everybody will have forgotten about it, and your grandchild may surprise you one day with the question 'Gandpa, what was a Post for a thing back then?' Inevitable for them all, Denmark first, dying businesses, impossible to keep them running, whatever one try.

 

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End of 2025 it will also be 9 years ago the Danish check system was definitively abolished and closed down, so no checks bouncing around here ever since. - 'Grandpa, what does it mean when this guy called Warren Buffett wrote : '...our checks will always clear!'? - And what was the opposite called'?' 

 

Back in 2011 I was entertaining the office telling stories, then suddenly a young colleague, interrupted me : 'John - what's a telex?' After explaning it, she looked stunned at me, 'So archiving was storing long stripes of paper rolls with punced holes? ' - Christ I felt old! 

 

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Article attached.

The Economist - Europe - Goona sit right down and write myself a lettter - Denmark gets ready to cancel Christmas cards - 20251127.pdf

Edited December 4, 2025 by John Hjorth
Added to the topic title

[TorontoRaptorsFan]

Canada needs to privatize Canada Post. It’s losing billions of dollars…

[SharperDingaan]

Canada will be restructuring its postal service (loses 1B+/yr), and delivering to a central location once/day in most places; the more remote, the less frequent the service. Lot of ways this could go, but at some point most would expect some form of drone delivery as well (remote settlements, within 40km+ of the central drop-off location). Postage stamps used to be lick and stick, then became peel and stick, and thereafter will very likely disappear altogether.

 

Long a stamp collector, and a fan of only the lick and stick, we have a few albums worth of entire sheets of Canadian lick and stick; most bought at either face value, or at a deep discount to the catalogue value at the time (as dealers retired). Sheets only as usage, dealer break-up, and age progressively reduces both the number of mint sheets available, and raises their rarity. All those 1940's WWII stamps will accrue 'antique' status (100 years old) in 15 years, and when you're one of only a few with sheets of them  ....

 

The reality of course is that these things are essentially historic artefacts that younger generations have no use for. They end up in a library/museum, as a donation for a tax break equal to the catalogue value at the time. Tax value increasing at about the average inflation rate during the intervening period, so there's no real loss to continuing to hold. BTC gains (ironically), periodically sprinkled into the pool via additional acquisition of the rarer sheets. 

 

Some folks stroll around the antique markets at Christmas ... others do the stamp dealers 

 

SD

 

 

 

[John Hjorth]

Thank you,  @TorontoRaptorsFan  & SD [ @SharperDingaan ],

 

As you can see, I have just changed the the topic title and add a couple of hashtags, I think it an interesting topic for discussion  related to discussion af digitalization and disruption of certain industries, also for general information purposes among CofB&F members in different countries.

 

Thank you for the inspiration to do so!

Edited December 4, 2025 by John Hjorth

[bizaro86]

7 hours ago, SharperDingaan said:

Canada will be restructuring its postal service (loses 1B+/yr), and delivering to a central location once/day in most places; the more remote, the less frequent the service. Lot of ways this could go, but at some point most would expect some form of drone delivery as well (remote settlements, within 40km+ of the central drop-off location). Postage stamps used to be lick and stick, then became peel and stick, and thereafter will very likely disappear altogether.

 

Long a stamp collector, and a fan of only the lick and stick, we have a few albums worth of entire sheets of Canadian lick and stick; most bought at either face value, or at a deep discount to the catalogue value at the time (as dealers retired). Sheets only as usage, dealer break-up, and age progressively reduces both the number of mint sheets available, and raises their rarity. All those 1940's WWII stamps will accrue 'antique' status (100 years old) in 15 years, and when you're one of only a few with sheets of them  ....

 

The reality of course is that these things are essentially historic artefacts that younger generations have no use for. They end up in a library/museum, as a donation for a tax break equal to the catalogue value at the time. Tax value increasing at about the average inflation rate during the intervening period, so there's no real loss to continuing to hold. BTC gains (ironically), periodically sprinkled into the pool via additional acquisition of the rarer sheets. 

 

Some folks stroll around the antique markets at Christmas ... others do the stamp dealers 

 

SD

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure my grandma has the only set of some collectible spoons. They're very rare, but absolutely nobody wants them, so they have no monetary value.

 

I think stamp collecting is likely to go that way- while collectible stamps will probably get more rare, what mechanism do you see for new collectors to take up the hobby? Kids who have never used a stamp don't seem like good prospects to me.

[SharperDingaan]

The only real value to this type of thing is whether it can be rotated within a larger collection that people pay a entrance fee to see; the museum, art gallery, etc. Many a museum with life style exhibits from the 1950's finds them popular with the younger kids; the kitchen, fashion, dial up phone examples, etc. Look at how grandma lived!

 

Lot of it in turn also reliant upon the marketing at the time. A better example being 'The Antique Road Show' watched by millions around the world, with each rerun earning a new royalty dollar. Put a dollar value on old junk, and make it entertaining to search the attic to see if we have one of those!

 

Hockey/baseball cards evidence there is inherent entertainment value to collecting, as does vintage clothing and shoes. Part of it is to show off who has the best! and in a non-digital format. Put all the stamps, dolls, shoes, vintage clothes, jigsaws, guitars, cards, vinyl, and signed memorabilia, etc in one place .... for a limited time ... over a holiday period... and you have something.

 

To the collector its really just another tax write off to reduce death duties on the estate. The passing on of historic artefacts that deserve a better home than the local dump.

 

SD

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2025 by SharperDingaan

[John Hjorth]

Related to the starting post in this topic, here are some more material to cover what's going on in this space un the Nordics :

 

Annual Report for 2024 for Post Nord AB :

 

 

Annel Report for 2024 for Post  Danmark A/S :

 

 

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From the 2024 Annual Report 2024 for Post Nord, p. 6 :

 

 

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In short, one can't merge or save costs for thy self to survive this, the direction and the final outcome is inevitable. Letters will die as a business leg, left is parcels, which Post Nord, the group, actually is very good at, that's my personal experience here in Denmark.

 

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Attached :

 

1. Annual Report for Post Nord AB for 2024, English language,

2. Annual Report for Post Danmark A/S for 2024, English language, translated from Danisg to English by the use of Google Translate, &

3. Annual Report for Post Danmark A/S for 2024,. Danish language, source for 2.

Post Nord AB - Annual Report 2024 - English - 20251128.pdf Post Danmark AS - Årsrapport 2024 - English - 20251128.pdf Post Danmark AS - Årsrapport 2024 - Danish - 20251128.pdf