National postal provider New Zealand Post has announced that it will completely phase out Saturday deliveries for rural customers from April 1, 2017.
In 2013, New Zealand Post was given the flexibility by the government to move to five-day delivery in rural areas. To date, this has been implemented in around a quarter of the country’s rural locations, however, this will now apply for all remaining six-day delivery locations.
Mark Stewart, chief operating officer, New Zealand Post, said, “Letter volumes continue to fall sharply, whereas the number of parcels and other products in our network is increasing.
“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. We need rural delivery to be in good shape for the future.”
The post’s rural contractors will continue to deliver parcels and subscription newspapers on Saturdays in areas where there has been six-day delivery.
Story by Dan Symonds
February 20, 2017
