Denmark scraps first-class postal deliveries

Anyone posting a last-minute birthday card in Denmark will soon be out of luck, after MPs voted to scrap first-class deliveries to save money.

Customers using the national postal service, Post Danmark, currently choose between sending a priority "A letter" or an economy "B letter". Priority mail arrives the next working day, while economy gets there within three working days, according to the company's website.

That system will now been replaced by a single, standard class of post which will take up to five days to arrive
The existing Monday to Saturday service is also being cut to five days a week.

It's part of a major cost-saving initiative prompted by the company's plummeting revenues. Demand for letter deliveries fell by 16% last year, and to plug the gap Post Danmark almost doubled the price of sending an A letter, from 10 kroner to 19 kroner ($3; £2).