Home Mailboxes on the Chopping Block As New Zealand’s Postal Service Cuts Costs

New Zealanders have become used to postal services shrinking while the price of stamps rises, but the latest proposal—to do away altogether with home mail delivery—may prove to be a step too far.

From mail deliveries six days a week, NZ Post is now required to deliver mail only three days a week in urban areas and five days in rural areas. And the familiar post office has almost completely disappeared, giving way to licenced outlets, usually superettes or bookshops.

Under its current Deed of Understanding with the government, NZ Post—a government-owned company run by an independent board—must maintain 880 such "points of presence," of which 240 are manned outlets.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), which is overseeing a review of the Deed, said the 880 figure had not been changed since it was set in 1989.

Under the current proposal, the number could shrink to 500, reducing to just 400 over time, and postal deliveries could fall to just two days a week in urban locations and three in rural areas.

MBIE claims that maintaining the 880 figure means NZ Post is forced to "overserve certain urban areas to reach this requirement."

The most controversial proposition, however, is to allow NZ Post to deliver to "cluster" or "community" boxes, initially for new addresses, but with existing delivery points being converted into communal points at a rate of up to 5 percent a year.

The Postal Workers Union wants the consultation period to be extended and the details clarified.

MBIE said the Deed was last reviewed in 2013, and New Zealand's digital connectivity has markedly improved since. It was scheduled for reexamination in 2018, but that was extended to 2024.

"The proposed changes ... are intended to allow NZ Post sufficient flexibility to achieve commercial sustainability while still responding to New Zealanders' ongoing need for mail," the Ministry said.

"Given [the] ongoing decline in the use of the mail service and the years since the last Deed review, it is time to consider whether changes should be made to the deed to reflect New Zealanders' declining use of the mail network. Changes also need to be considered to allow the mail service to continue in a commercially sustainable way."

In 2002, about a billion mail items went through NZ Post. In the last financial year, it had fallen to 187 million and is expected to drop to 107 million by 2028.