Help our posties deliver your mail safely, securely and efficiently by meeting our mailbox specifications.

Every day each of our Posties delivers to around 1,000 mailboxes, some positioned in difficult places with hard-to-reach slots.

Designing your mailbox

Illustration only – mailboxes are not available for purchase.

• Ensure the main mail slot is big enough to take several A4 size magazines without needing to fold them. If you receive parcels, you should consider having a separate parcel area in your mailbox.
• Your mailbox should be deep enough (from front to back) to take the length of an A4 size item so that mail can be pushed in far enough to drop out of sight securely.
• Your mailbox should be large enough to hold all of the mail you receive. If you frequently receive parcels, ensure your mailbox is large enough to accommodate them, out of sight from the street.
• Ideally, your mailbox will have a separate area to take newspapers.
• You can still have fun with your mailbox design - just allow for the minimum internal dimensions shown in the diagram below to make mail delivery easy and safe.
• Spring loaded flaps must not be fitted on mailboxes as they may cause injury to your Postie.

Setting up your mailbox

• Make sure your street number is clearly visible.
• Position your mailbox on the property boundary, close to the footpath on the nearest flat area, in a position that is easy and safe for your Postie to access. Where your Postie delivers by cycle the terrain before and after your mailbox needs to be flat and free of obstructions.
• Avoid locating your mailbox on a hill, slope, bank or up steps.
• Maintain safe and clear access to your mailbox, with no shrubbery or obstacles in the way.
• The height of your mailbox must be between 900mm – 1200mm from the ground to the mail slot.

Mailboxes for flats or apartments

Outside mailboxes

Groups of outside mailboxes for flats or apartments should be at right angles to the footpath or roadway. The height from the ground to the mail slot must be 900mm-1200mm.

Inside mailboxes

If you have mailboxes located inside a block of five or more apartments, they should be lockable, on the ground floor and with a common entrance.

You can find your specific mail delivery days by searching for your address using the Address & Postcode Finder. 

Standard mail and economy parcels are delivered to addresses in major cities and towns 3 days per week, either on Monday, Wednesday and Friday OR Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Rural addresses receive mail 5 days per week (Monday- Friday).

If you have moved recently, check if your address is in our database by searching for it using our Address & Postcode Finder. If it doesn't display in the drop-down list this may be because we don't know about your address yet. If the address says "No postal delivery" we may need to update it in our database for mail delivery. In both cases, you can use our suggest an address form to request an update.

Please ensure you have installed a mailbox. You can check our mailbox requirements on this page. If you have a mailbox installed, check it isn't being obstructed to prevent your mail being delivered.

If you have moved to a rural address, you may need to apply to receive Rural Delivery. Use our Address & Postcode Finder to confirm your address contains RD, and you can receive Rural Delivery. Then make an application online. 

If none of these applies to you, or you still aren't receiving mail, please submit an online mail enquiry so we can investigate.

We're not able to find your letter if you haven't bought a tracked service.

A tracking number is an important way for us to find your item. We can't find it using the receiver's name, address or phone number.

If you have received mail that wasn't meant for you, you can return it using our Return to Sender service.

Simply write ‘return to sender’ on the front of the envelope and post as normal. It will be returned to the sender if there's a sender's address. If there's no sender’s address, then it will be sent to New Zealand Post’s Returned Letters Office and will be dealt with in accordance with the Postal Services Act 1998.

Returning items overseas:

• Letters, small parcels and all registered mail are returned to the country they were sent from.
• Parcels that are insured, weigh over 2kg, or are courier items, are dealt with according to the instructions on the customs declaration or consignment note.
• Printed papers are only returned to the country they were sent from if the sender specifically requests it, and it is marked on the item in the language of the destination country.

Terms and conditions apply.

If you're expecting a letter that hasn't arrived, and you think there's an address error or the return address wasn't on the envelope, we may be holding your letter at our Returns Letters Office.

You can send an enquiry to our Returns Letters Office using our online mail enquiry form.

Please note we dispose of any letters that are unclaimed 3 months after receiving them.

Mail is considered undeliverable if:

• it doesn't display a complete and valid postal address.
• it's addressed to a non-existent postal address.
• the addressee has moved without providing a Mail redirection request or the request has expired.
• the item has insufficient postage for delivery.
• the item is prohibited by law.

Undeliverable mail without a return address is dealt with in accordance with the Postal Services Act 1998.

Mail sent within New Zealand

• If the item has a sender’s address, it will be returned to the sender.
• If the item doesn't have a visible sender address, it is sent to the Returned Letter Office where the item is held in safe custody and opened to see if the contents identify the return address.
• After 3 months at the Returned Letter Office, if the postal item remains unclaimed and the sender has not been identified, NZ Post may destroy or otherwise dispose of the item.

Mail sent from overseas

• Letters, small parcels and all registered mail are returned to the country they were sent from.
• Parcels that are insured, weigh over 2kg, or are courier items, are dealt with according to the instructions on the customs declaration or consignment note.
• Printed papers are only returned to the country they were sent from if the sender specifically requests it, and it is marked on the item in the language of the destination country.

If your address isn't in our Address & Postcode Finder this may be because we don't know about your address yet. We may need to add it to our database for mail and parcel delivery. You can use our suggest an address form to request your address be added to our database.