The EU Commission is planning to update the laws for postal and parcel services by merging previous directives into a new “EU Delivery Act”. This means that the regulations will, in the future, have a broader focus on the deliveries themselves, rather than just targeting traditional letters and parcels.
The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) announces that it has submitted its views on the matter and advocates that basic postal services must remain available to all EU citizens. However, the authority believes that home delivery of ready-made food or groceries should not be included in the universal service.
It is good that the Commission wants to modernize postal regulation, something that we and other European regulatory authorities have been working on for some time. From a Swedish perspective, we believe that the universal postal service should continue to ensure access to basic postal services for all users within the EU. It is also important that member states have flexibility to adapt the regulation to national conditions, says Joakim Levin, head of PTS unit for postal matters.
E-commerce Small Packages Increase in Volume and Turnover
Society's transition to digital communication means that the total amount of physical letters continues to fall, as shown in the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority's report Swedish Postal Market 2026.
In 2025, 964 million letter consignments were sent in Sweden, a decrease of eight percent compared to the previous year. The total turnover on the market was SEK 8 billion.
However, when it comes to e-commerce, the trend looks completely different. The market for so-called parcel letters, i.e. goods and items weighing up to two kilograms and delivered within the letter flow, is growing.
The volume of these e-commerce consignments increased by seven percent to 71 million parcel letters in 2025. Turnover for this specific segment also increased by nine percent, landing at SEK 2.1 billion.
Market Players
Postnord had a market share of 60 to 65 percent in terms of volume in 2025. In second place is the Early Bird network, which has a market share of 25 to 30 percent. Citymail accounts for 10 to 15 percent of the volumes in this sub-market.
E-commerce customers' choice of delivery method is also reflected in how the infrastructure is being expanded. At the beginning of 2026, there were nearly 15,800 service points in the country distributed among different providers.
The number of parcel lockers and self-service machines has increased and now stands at 7,573. This means that the number of deployed cabinets is now more than the traditional agents, which amount to 7,571.
Players such as Instabee have 2,882 parcel lockers, while Postnord has 2,565 cabinets as a complement to its agents.