Rural mail to the rescue
Federated Farmers board member Katie Milne says rural posties could play a significant role in helping to deal with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.
Changes to the Deed of Understanding with the Government in 2013 allowed New Zealand Post to move to five day delivery in rural areas. From November 1, more delivery runs will move from six to five days a week. Currently about 15% of rural customers are on five day delivery and this will increase to about 25%.
“We’ve been able to maintain a six day service for three quarters of our rural customers nationwide, but in some places, we don’t have enough items coming through the network for a six day service to be sustainable,” says Mark Stewart, chief operating officer, customer service delivery.
“We’ll be notifying rural delivery customers affected by this change in the next few weeks.
“They’ll continue to be able to send and receive parcels and letters Monday to Friday.
“We’re working hard to give our rural customers the best possible service at the same time as maintaining a commercially sound rural delivery network.
“With the growth in online shopping, we’re also improving sending, delivering and tracking options for our rural customers.
“The majority of rural contractors are now equipped with scanners, providing customers with better tracking information and the convenience of being able to know when parcels will arrive.”
New Zealand Post is in the process of talking to its rural contractors about the changes. The runs affected are mainly in Southland and Otago as well as parts of Tasman, Nelson, the West Coast, North Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.
