PostNord Sverige AB (formerly ''Posten AB'') is a Swedish

postal service The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

and

courier A courier is a person or organization that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

company, which is part of

PostNord PostNord AB is a provider of postal services operating mainly in the Nordic countries. The company was formed on 24 June 2009, under the name ''Posten Norden'', as the holding company in a Mergers and acquisitions, merger between the Danish and ...

. In 2009 Posten merged with its Danish equivalent,

Post Danmark A/S Post Danmark Aktieselskab, A/S, trade name, trading as PostNord Denmark (), is the national provider of mail, postal services in Denmark. It was established as a fully state-owned stock holder's company in 1995 following political liberalizati ...

, to form PostNord AB, a company that is jointly owned by the Swedish (60%) and Danish (40%) governments. A rebranding to PostNord for both the mail and logistics divisions was performed in 2015.

History

The service was established as ''Kungliga Postverket'' (The Royal Postal Agency) in 1636 by the

Lord High Chancellor of Sweden The Lord High Chancellor () was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from 1538 until 1799, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Privy Council. From 1634, the Lord High Chancellor was on ...

Axel Oxenstierna Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (; 1583–1654) was a Swedish statesman and Count of Södermöre. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of ...

, who was de facto

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

until the young Queen Christina took the throne in 1644. It was operated as a government agency into the 1990s when it was transformed into a government-owned limited company, Posten AB. One of the most visible changes to the postal service was the decision in 2000 to replace Posten's numerous

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

s with a franchise net of postal service points, run by grocery shops and petrol stations. Postal Service Centres, run by PostNord, are maintained for business clients only. Postvagn nyare

In addition to regular mail, PostNord is also the largest distributor in Sweden of

advertising mail Advertising mail, also known as direct mail (by its senders), junk mail (by its recipients), mailshot or admail (North America), letterbox drop or letterboxing (Australia), is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. Th ...

. Mail and package delivery has in recent times become less reliable in Sweden, accredited to the large scale organisational changes and rationalisation in the last decade. Nevertheless, it is under increasing competition from private companies on the Swedish deregulated postal market. Their main competitor is the formerly private company CityMail, nationalised by Norway as of 2006

On 24 June 2009, Posten AB merged with

Post Danmark Post Danmark A/S, trading as PostNord Denmark (), is the national provider of postal services in Denmark. It was established as a fully state-owned stock holder's company in 1995 following political liberalization efforts. Post Danmark had t ...

to form the new holding company PostNord AB, owned by the Swedish (60%) and Danish (40%) governments.

Transportation of the mail

All second-class mail in Sweden has been sent by rail since 2001.

Directors General of Postverket

*1850–1867

Otto Wilhelm Staël von Holstein Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

(1802–1884) *1867–1889 Wilhelm Roos (1824–1895) *1889–1907 Edvard von Krusenstjerna (1841–1907) *1896–1902 Frans Herman Schlytern (acting) *1907–1907 Richard Ossbahr (1853–1936) *1907–1925 Julius Juhlin (1861–1934) *1925–1947

Anders Örne Anders Örne (1881–1956) was a Swedish politician who served as the minister of communications (transport) between 1921 and 1923. He also headed the Cooperative Society and Post Office Administration. In addition, he was a member of the Social ...

(1881–1956) *1947–1965 Erik Swartling (1900–1985) *1965–1973 Nils Hörjel (1917–2006) *1973–1982 Ove Rainer (1925–1987) *1982–1988 Bertil Zachrisson (1926–2023) *1988–1994 Ulf Dahlsten (1946–)

Managing Directors of Posten AB

*1994–1998 Ulf Dahlsten (1946–) *1999–2002 Lennart Grabe (1946–) *2002–2003

Börje Österholm Börje is an old Swedish people, Swedish male name. It is a cognate of Birger;Elof Hellquist, ''Svensk etymologisk ordbok''. Lund 1922. Börje is the form that has developed naturally according to the sound change laws of Swedish, whilst Birger i ...

(1942–) *2003–2008 Erik Olsson (1959–) *2008– Lars G. Nordström (1943–)

References

External links

postnord.se/
– Official PostNord Sweden site {{DEFAULTSORT:Posten Ab Government-owned companies of Sweden

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...