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Letter drop...

The Co-operative Village’s Letter Collection is a copy of a letter drop from approximately 1950. The mail service outside the market towns was a sad chapter of history until the 20th century. In 1865 it was agreed that letters should be delivered in all market towns, but when it came to country folk only express letters were delivered - no newspapers. Letters, packages and newspapers usually had to be collected from the mail offices in the market towns.

In 1852 the first letter drop was established on a farm in Svinninge, which was passed by the mail wagon between Holbæk and Nykøbing, making it possible for the population in the area to collect mail and send mail from this place. In 1870 the inn in Fårevejle became a similar letter drop, and seven years later one was established in Sidinge, where the steamer between Nykøbing and Holbæk came in with gods and passengers. Finally, in 1883 there were letter drops in Gundestrup, Herrestrup and Vig after the stagecoach connection between Holbæk and Nykøbing was lead through the new Lammefjord dam and came to pass through these villages.

In the 1860s and 1870s rural mailmen began to walk to the other villages in Odsherred, and over time mailboxes were put up in the villages. The mail service was very irregular, however. The routes were long, often 50 kilometres, and the mailmen went on foot. As late as 1912 the teacher in Rørvig warned the summer guests, it is claimed, not to put their letters in the mail service’s red box at the school building, because several days could easily pass before they were taken to the post office in Nykøbing.

Actual mail carrying on the country was first established in 1907. The rural mailmen had to cycle, from 1884, but had to provide their own bike, which cost DKK 240-50 back then (approximately a half year’s pay). On the other hand the work time could be reduced by a third, and this was very significant for the many mailmen, who worked on the side as for instance small farmers. In Egebjerg the local shoemaker collected the mail.