From the 1st of April, New Zealand Post has announced that rural customers who currently receive 6 days a week delivery will no longer be able to receive deliveries or have mail picked up on Saturdays.

The mail deliveries that the rural customers receive will continue as they do, only from Monday to Friday. Rural contractors however will continue to deliver parcels and subscription newspapers on Saturdays where there is currently a six day delivery.

The Government gave New Zealand Post the flexibility to move to a five day delivery operation in rural areas. Currently, around 25% of rural customers are already on a five day delivery service, while the other three quarters are on six day delivery. This will change in April.

New Zealand Post’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart commented : “Letter volumes continue to fall sharply, whereas the number of parcels and other products in our network is increasing.”

Stewart said NZ Post had held off moving to five day letter delivery for all rural customers for as long as possible, but the continuing decline in letter volumes means six day letter delivery is no longer sustainable.

“We’re continuing to work hard to bring new business on board to maintain a commercially viable rural network for us and our contractors, and to give our rural customers the best possible service,” added Stewart. “We need rural delivery to be in good shape for the future.”  
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