Ele Ludemann: The mail isn’t getting through

The mail always gets through, or so the saying goes, but not any more:

Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) is deeply concerned at the latest news that New Zealand Post will stop providing postal services to the growing Tasman rural communities of Mapua and Upper Moutere.

“It’s deeply concerning to read in the Nelson Mail that NZ Post is putting commercial viability above the need for rural communities to access basic postal services,” RWNZ Chief Executive Marie Fitzpatrick says.

“Rural communities should not have to travel half an hour each way to clear their post box, send a letter or pay a bill. To add insult to injury, rural communities often suffer from poor digital connectivity which makes it difficult to do administrative tasks online.

“It was only in April that New Zealand Post announced it would be phasing out Saturday rural newspaper and parcel deliveries nationwide. Earlier this month the Akaroa Postal Centre also closed suddenly and we are hoping NZ Post can find an alternative solution for continuing retail postal services to the Akaroa community.

“We will continue to engage with NZ Post, government agencies and Ministers around NZ Post’s Deed of Understanding with Government about minimum service provision.

“Our rural communities play a vital role in New Zealand’s economy and deserve better – especially from a State-Owned Enterprise.”

This isn’t the only area where the mail isn’t getting through:

Residents of a new Queenstown development have lost contact with family members, while other homeowners have court dates for overdue fines, all because NZ Post will not deliver mail to their letterboxes.

The Hanley’s Farm housing development began in 2019. Many residents have since moved in, and once completed, the development will have 1500 properties.

However, NZ Post is refusing to give the area urban delivery status, and will not deliver mail to properties’ individual letterboxes.

It is not the only new development in this situation. North of Auckland city, the Ara Hills development is still considered a rural delivery zone by NZ Post, despite plans for it to have 3000 properties.

Residents there also do not receive letters to their mailboxes, meaning fines have gone unpaid and important medical information has not been received.

Residents of Hanley’s Farm are facing a two-year wait for a PO Box. . .

A two-year wait!

Good grief, that’s going back decades to when the Post Office controlled mail and telephones and customers had long waits to get a phone connected.

Apropos of which, a few decades ago rural delivery box holders were charged for mail deliveries. So many didn’t pay, opting for a PO Box in town which was free for people on Rural Delivery instead, that junk mail businesses pressured the Post Office to get rid of it and it was abandoned.

Those were the days before the internet which has had a big impact with emails replacing snail mail. But there is still a place for letters and more so parcels sent by mail and New Zealand Post ought to ensure that people can still get mail, at or near their properties.

The need for deliveries is especially important in rural areas where the internet isn’t always reliable and where courier parcels of essential supplies come with the mail.

Those of us who subscribe to the Otago Daily Times get deliveries six days a week because the ODT pays Rural Delivery contractors to deliver the paper. Those who don’t subscribe get mail on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or if you live in the areas NZ Post doesn’t deliver to, you don’t get mail at all.

NZ Post is an SOE. It’s supposed to act like a business, and a modern, customer-centred one at that. It’s not supposed to act like an old fashioned government agency, reminiscent of those on which Gliding On was based and it ought to be ensuring the mail gets through to a reasonable distance from where people live.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.