Denmark's postal service is sending a chilling message

PostNord, the Danish postal service, will cease letter deliveries from the end of the year.

- JAMES MOORE

The Scandinavian nation’s red post boxes have already started to vanish and while private operators are expected to step in to the breach, the cost will inevitably be much higher. This is the shape of things to come in Britain. Royal Mail, which is responsible for deliveries here, was allowed to hike prices in April to an eye-popping £1.70 for a first-class stamp (up 5p), and to 87p for second (up 2p). Two-thirds of Britons agreed that this was “unfair”.

In July, its universal service obligation (USO) was reformed, with Saturday deliveries of second-class post slated to be scrapped and weekday deliveries moving to Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or Tuesday and Thursday, in a two-week cycle. The (delayed) changes will take effect next year, while six-day-a-week deliveries remain for those who shell out for first class.

But for how long? Ofcom thinks that the savings to Royal Mail, now owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, from these reforms will be substantial - up to £425m a year. It also revised the company’s targets, to make them, in the view of the company (which has repeatedly been fined for missing them), “more realistic”.

However, it’s hard not to see letter deliveries entering a doom loop. Ofcom’s USO consultation was motivated by a sharp decline, from a peak of 20 billion letters sent in 2004-05 to 6.6 billion in 2023-24. That latter figure was down 9 per cent on the previous year.