NZ Post to change delivery days for newspapers and parcels to rural addresses
NZ Post is changing its delivery days for newspapers and parcels in rural areas of New Zealand. From 29 June 2024, there will no longer be newspaper and parcel deliveries to rural addresses on Saturdays due to commercial viability, but Monday to Friday deliveries will continue as usual.
NZ Post Chief Operating Officer Brendon Main says Saturday services to rural areas are not commercially viable.
“Today, the items delivered by NZ Post rural delivery partners on Saturday are limited to subscription newspapers, as well as some parcels. We deliver very low volumes of items on these days, and it costs us more to deliver on Saturdays than we earn from the products we deliver.”
“From 29 June 2024, NZ Post will no longer deliver newspapers and parcels on Saturdays in the majority of rural New Zealand, with the exception of 17 rural delivery runs that will be phased out by June 2025. These 17 delivery runs are in Canterbury and Waikato and are being kept in place to give our business customers more time to put alternative arrangements in place for their customers.”
“It is important to note that there will be no changes to rural mail delivery as we do not currently deliver mail on Saturdays to any address. Rural mail delivery will still take place Monday to Friday, and we will still be fulfilling our obligations under the Deed of Understanding, which is an agreement we have with government that includes how often we deliver mail.”
“We acknowledge the affect that ceasing Saturday deliveries may have on Kiwis who live at a rural address. This is not a decision that we have made lightly and we empathise with those who could be impacted by this change,” says Main.
Impacted rural customers can expect to receive a written notification about the change from NZ Post. Rural customers who currently have newspapers delivered on Saturdays are advised to contact their newspaper subscription service.
This change will also affect rural customers who are PO Box holders and currently receive deliveries through the NZ Post Box Lobby service on Saturdays. PO Box holders who are impacted by this change will receive a letter from NZ Post.
NZ Post has consulted with our rural delivery partners and considered the impact to our business customers before confirming this change.
NZ Post is going through a period of transformation, responding to the ongoing decline in mail volumes and future growth in e-commerce, while charting a path towards commercial sustainability without government funding.
“We need to make some hard decisions about our future and the services we offer as we evolve to meet the needs of New Zealanders. We are continuing to invest in growing an unmatched delivery business, while managing a transition to a commercially sustainable mail delivery service as we move toward a single network for mail and courier delivery as announced on 26 March 2024.”
“These are not always easy decisions to make, and we again acknowledge the impact on rural communities.” says Main.