Postnord tracking

Swedish-Danish postal group from the 2009 merger

PostNord is the common postal and logistics group of Sweden and Denmark, born from the 2009 merger of the two historical national posts, Posten AB (Sweden) and Post Danmark (Denmark). This merger, effective since June 24, 2009, gave birth to the holding company PostNord AB, owned 60% by the Swedish state and 40% by the Danish state. The group's headquarters is located in Solna, Sweden, and the unified entity has inherited several centuries of postal history: the Swedish post was founded in 1636, while the Danish post dates back to the 17th century, establishing a rich heritage of postal services in the region.

As a major postal operator in Scandinavia, PostNord provides the universal postal service in Sweden and, until 2025, in Denmark. Faced with declining mail volumes, it was announced in March 2025 the end of mail delivery by PostNord in Denmark (taken over by a private operator, DAO), marking a historic evolution of the Danish postal service. Nevertheless, PostNord remains a key player in Nordic logistics, playing a central role in the delivery of mail and parcels across the region. The group currently employs around 35,000 people and continues to adapt its organization to meet modern needs in commerce and communication.

PostNord operates mainly in Sweden and Denmark, but its activity covers the entire Nordic region. The group is structured into national divisions (notably PostNord Sweden and PostNord Denmark) stemming from historical entities, while partnerships allow for efficient service in Norway and Finland. Since its launch, PostNord's mission has been to offer integrated postal and logistics solutions in all Scandinavian countries, ensuring the continuity of traditional postal service while developing modern parcel delivery and logistics services across the region.

Services offered

As a versatile provider, PostNord offers a wide range of postal and logistics services for both individuals and businesses. These services cover both domestic and international shipments, and include notably

• Postal mail services: distribution of mail and letters, domestically and internationally, ensuring the universal postal service for correspondence shipments.
• Standard parcel delivery: reliable and economical parcel shipping service, to send packages nationwide or abroad within a few business days (depending on the destination). This standard mode is suitable for non-urgent shipments while ensuring basic tracking and delivery reliability.
• Express delivery: accelerated shipping options for urgent shipments, offering reduced transit times compared to the standard service. Express parcels are prioritized to be delivered as quickly as possible, both domestically and internationally.
• Home delivery: distribution of parcels directly to the recipient's address. This convenient service allows the customer to receive their package at home, without traveling, and generally includes notifications to inform of the delivery time.
• Relay point delivery: possibility to route parcels to a pickup point or postal agency near the recipient. PostNord relies on a dense network of service points and automated lockers where customers can collect their shipments at their convenience. This delivery mode offers flexibility and convenience, especially for people often absent from their homes.
• E-commerce logistics and 3PL: services dedicated to businesses for managing their supply chain. PostNord offers Third-Party Logistics solutions including warehousing of goods in logistics centers, order preparation, packaging, labeling, and even customs formalities management for international shipments. A high-performance IT system allows professional customers to track their logistics flows in real-time and optimize their operations. These third-party logistics offers are particularly aimed at e-merchants seeking to outsource the management of their stocks and deliveries.
• E-commerce and returns services: PostNord supports online merchants by handling the delivery of customer orders, with the possibility for the end consumer to choose from several delivery modes (standard, express, home, relay point) at the time of purchase. E-commerce deliveries are optimized according to three essential criteria (time, reliability, and cost) to offer the best possible experience. Additionally, PostNord fully manages order returns: prepaid return labels can be provided and returned parcels are taken care of and routed back to the seller, simplifying the return process for both the customer and the merchant.
• Postal marketing services: distribution of advertising mail and direct marketing solutions for businesses. PostNord offers to send mailings, catalogs, brochures, and other promotional mailings to targeted recipients, leveraging its mail distribution network. The group also offers analysis tools to optimize the impact of campaigns (customer targeting, market studies, etc.) and help advertisers reach the right audience at the right time.
• Corporate communication services: handling the sending of administrative or commercial documents in large volumes on behalf of companies (such as invoices, account statements, customer notifications, loyalty letters, etc.). PostNord can manage the issuance of these communications according to the recipient's preferences (in traditional paper format or digitally) to ensure effective receipt of information. This offer allows organizations to outsource the management of regular mail while ensuring their end customers receive it through their preferred channel.

Concrete logistics processes

To ensure the journey of a shipment from the point of dispatch to the final recipient, PostNord implements a structured logistics process in several key steps:

• Pickup and drop-off: Shipments enter the network either by direct collection or by drop-off at one of the reception points. Individual customers can drop off their letters and parcels at post offices, agencies, or designated drop boxes, or schedule a home collection for certain services. Professional customers and e-merchants often benefit from regular pickups directly on-site by PostNord rounds. This initial phase ensures the shipment is taken care of and registered in the tracking system.
• Sorting and routing: Once collected, letters and parcels are transported to PostNord's regional or national sorting centers. There, mechanized and/or manual sorting is performed to distribute shipments by destination. Parcels are scanned and directed to the correct logistics channel. PostNord's sorting platforms, equipped with modern equipment, handle large volumes daily. After sorting, shipments are routed to their destination region: road transport by trucks over long distances across the country or to neighboring countries, possibly rail transport for some massive flows, and air transport for distant destinations or international express services. This intermediate routing step brings the shipment closer to the recipient's geographic area.
• Customs and international transit: For shipments crossing borders outside the European Union or to/from abroad, customs formalities apply. PostNord coordinates the customs clearance of international parcels by collaborating with customs authorities: preparation and verification of shipping documents, possible payment of import/export duties and taxes, etc. If a parcel must transit through a foreign partner (for example, a local post in the destination country), PostNord ensures the transmission of the shipment and tracking information to this partner. Cross-border exchanges within the Nordic area are facilitated by cooperation agreements, making transit smooth. In case of blockage or pending tax payment, the shipment status is updated accordingly (e.g. "Tax payment is pending" in tracking).
• Final distribution: Arrived in the last mile area, shipments are taken over by the nearest PostNord local distribution center to the recipient. They are possibly re-sorted by delivery round and then entrusted to delivery agents (postmen or parcel couriers). Distribution can be done directly to the recipient's home (with hand delivery or mailbox drop-off if possible for letters and small parcels) or at a relay point/post office if the parcel must be collected there. In case of recipient absence during a home delivery attempt, a notice is left and the parcel is deposited at a pickup point where it can be collected later. Throughout this phase, the tracking status is updated (for example "In delivery", "Delivery impossible - recipient absent", etc.). When delivery to the recipient is successfully completed, the shipment is marked as "delivered" in the system.
• Returns management: PostNord also handles the reverse flow of parcels returned by recipients to senders (customer returns, after-sales service, etc.). The return process is similar in reverse: the customer drops off their return parcel with a provided return label (often prepaid by the original sender) in the PostNord network. The parcel is routed and tracked to the merchant's or original sender's return logistics center. PostNord offers specific solutions to facilitate these returns, with equally rigorous tracking, so that businesses have visibility on returned goods and can quickly process refunds or exchanges. Good returns management is an integral part of the logistics cycle, especially for e-commerce, and PostNord contributes by offering a reliable service for returning parcels.

International network and logistics capabilities

Although it concentrates most of its activities in Scandinavia, PostNord has an internationally reaching network. The group operates directly in Sweden and Denmark, and also covers Norway, Finland, and Iceland through regional cooperations, ensuring 100% coverage of the Nordic territory. In addition, PostNord is present in Germany, where it operates logistics platforms facilitating exchanges with Central Europe. To extend its global reach, the group relies on strong partnerships: its subsidiary Direct Link manages the international shipment of light goods (small parcels and advertising mail abroad), and PostNord is integrated into the DPD network, one of the most extensive parcel carrier alliances globally, allowing it to offer its customers logistics solutions to virtually any country. Thus, a company using PostNord can ship its products not only to the Nordic countries but also to the rest of Europe, America, Asia, or Oceania via this combined network.

PostNord's physical network relies on thousands of contact points and logistics infrastructures. There are more than 6,000 service points across Scandinavia where customers can drop off or collect parcels. The group also operates numerous sorting centers and distribution sorting centers (more than a hundred regional logistics terminals), interconnected to efficiently route mail and freight pallets. Every day, PostNord handles a very large volume of shipments: for example, in 2015, the operator distributed approximately 5.2 billion correspondence items (letters, prints, etc.) and 130 million parcels over the year, to the 25 million inhabitants and 2 million businesses in the Nordic region. These figures illustrate the scale of PostNord's logistics capacity, which remains one of the largest parcel carriers in Northern Europe. In Sweden, PostNord handles nearly half of the domestic parcel market in terms of volume, ahead of competitors like DHL or Bring. Thanks to its vast fleet of vehicles (trucks, delivery vans, electric fleets for the last mile) and its investments in automation and innovation, PostNord manages to ensure reliable deliveries while improving its operational efficiency.

Shipment tracking and tracking numbers

For each parcel or registered letter handled, PostNord provides a tracking number (or shipment identifier) allowing its journey to be traced in real-time. This tracking number is a unique alphanumeric code assigned to the shipment at the time of postage. Generally, the standard format of a PostNord tracking number consists of 13 characters, for example, LM228640525SE. This type of code follows the international standard of the Universal Postal Union: it starts with two letters (indicating the type of shipment, e.g. "LM" for a standard parcel or "RR" for a registered letter), followed by a unique series of numbers, and ends with two letters corresponding to the ISO code of the country of origin (e.g. SE for Sweden, DK for Denmark). Thanks to this format, a shipment like AA123456789SE will be immediately recognized as a parcel shipped from Sweden.

Depending on the service used, the tracking number may vary in length and structure. PostNord indicates that some shipment identifiers may have from 9 to 35 characters in some specific cases, particularly for internal logistics services or special international shipments. Nevertheless, most tracked parcels and letters have a 13-position number. This number is generally communicated to the sender at the time of shipment (postal receipt or online confirmation) and to the recipient by the merchant or the shipping notification email/SMS.

Armed with this tracking number, customers can track the progress of their shipment at any time. PostNord provides tracking tools accessible on its website and via a dedicated mobile app. By entering the tracking number on the online tracking page, the user obtains up-to-date status information: for example, if the parcel is "in transit", "arrived at the distribution center" or "delivered". Tracking is regularly updated at each important step (pickup, departure of the parcel from a depot, arrival at a platform, customs clearance, delivery setup, etc.). These tracking statuses, often in the local language of the distribution country or in English, are translated and displayed in French on French tracking sites or customer communications.

Common tracking statuses

Below, a table summarizes the main tracking statuses used by PostNord, presented in French with their exact meaning. These messages may appear when consulting the tracking of a shipment and indicate where the parcel is or what action is underway in the delivery process: