Copenhagen Municipality formally ended its letter delivery agreement with Dao as of September 1, but several of its own departments are still sending mail through the company.
The termination took effect Tuesday, September 1, 2026, and was decided three weeks earlier by politicians in Copenhagen. DR reports that the stated reason was that the postal distributor does not meet the municipality’s requirements on pay and working conditions.
At the time, Lord Mayor Sisse Marie Welling of SF described the requirement as a fixed principle for anyone doing business with the municipality. According to DR, several municipal administrations have now confirmed that they continue to use Dao anyway.
That includes the Finance Administration, the department for which Welling holds political responsibility. Asked by DR News, the administration said the municipality’s postal center will collect and stamp letters and hand them over to Dao.
Continuing without the previous agreement may also cost more. In a written answer to Liberal Alliance published by Copenhagen Municipality, the Finance Administration states that prices will rise by about 5 kroner per standard letter if Dao is used after the agreement ends.
Alexander Ryle, Liberal Alliance’s member of the municipality’s Finance Committee, told DR the situation almost looks like satire. He said the agreement was terminated only to continue with the same company, and that the outcome is a larger bill.
Ryle himself recommended in May that the committee keep the existing contract with Dao. DR News said it tried to obtain a comment from Welling, but did not reach her before its deadline.
Few alternatives on the market
Ole Helby Petersen, a professor of public governance and procurement at Roskilde University, told DR he is not surprised. According to him, the core problem is that only one supplier is left in practice for this type of task.
He pointed to Aarhus Municipality, which sends letters through PostNord’s parcel system instead. That model is significantly more expensive, he said, comparing it to swapping a discount supermarket for a luxury one.
Petersen said the case illustrates the gap between political ambitions and what the market offers. Ending the cooperation was a political decision, he noted, but politics collides with reality when no obvious alternative exists.
When a municipality ends up using the very supplier it said it would avoid, it starts to resemble symbolic politics, according to Petersen. The professor’s comments were made to DR News.
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Dao’s managing director, Hans Peter Nissen, declined to comment on the case but wrote in a text message that the company has a universal service obligation. Everything handed in will be distributed, he stated. Nissen has previously rejected claims that Dao fails to meet Copenhagen’s requirements on pay and working conditions.
