New Zealand decreases delivery days

Later this year, New Zealand Post will begin a transition to an every-other-day mail delivery system for standard mail.

The proposed change in the delivery schedule was first announced in 2013, and official implementation will begin this July, according to a Feb. 12 press release from New Zealand Post.

In the press release, New Zealand Post’s Mail and Communications Chief Operating Officer Ashley Smout confirmed that “standard mail will be delivered every second day to households in urban areas starting from July in larger towns and cities, and rolling out to smaller centres over two years.”

Smout said, “The way we plan to roll out these changes means we will continue to meet our delivery targets for standard letters. We’re confident customers will see very little, if any, difference in the services they receive from New Zealand Post as a result of these delivery changes. This is a priority for us.

“Our target of 95 percent of standard mail delivered within three working days remains, just as it is now. Six-day-a-week deliveries will continue for priority mail and courier parcels, so people should still check for mail every day.”

Before July, the alternate delivery days will be tested in parts of Auckland.

Smout said: “We’re making these changes in response to people sending fewer letters. Our analysis shows the average household receives letters just three days a week.”

According to a report by Sophie Ryan in the Feb. 12 issue of the New Zealand Herald, the changes will cost 400 letter carriers their jobs, 300 on July 1 and the other 100 later.