In an announcement today, the Chief Operating Officer of NZ Post's Mail and Communications, Ashley Smout revealed that from as early as July, residents of urban centres should expect mail deliveries on only three days of the week.
This move was described as a "priority" for NZ Post, and is expected to have very little noticeable effect on residents. With a delivery target of three days for mail remaining, it is clear that the national postal organisation are confident that this move will not impact customers.
Mr Smout added that their priority services and courier parcel delivery will continue on a daily basis, so residents should continue to check mail boxes regularly. It is also notable that this change will only affect urban communities, so rural New Zealanders will not be affected at this point.
It is unclear whether these changes will ever extend to more rural communities, but with mail rates dropping, and as Mr Smout argues that most residencies only receive mail every three days (hence the current changes), it is not impossible that such changes will occur.
In a statement from the Postal Worker's Union of Aotearoa, spokesperson Graeme Clarke highlighted the issue of privatisation and profit. This cut is seen by Mr Clarke in the context of wider restructuring by NZ Post in order to "maximise profits", and furthermore, the Union sees the move as a "money grab".
The restructuring Clarke refers to led to the down-scaling of dozens of NZ Post offices and KiwiBank stores in 2011, (http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4999517/NZ-Post-confirms-shop-closures) and the closure of Dunedin Mail Processing Centre in 2013 (http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/262599/nz-post-cuts-new-blow-city-economy).
These cuts may be seen as necessary by NZ Post, but are clearly seen by local activists, and national Unions as an attack on jobs in the name of profit.
Mr Clarke even went as far to say that this latest move was "encouraging privatisation". It is clear that the livelihood of postal workers is the concern for Clarke and his Union, and the cut to delivery days, whether for all mail or just some, is clearly a threat to workers.
Clarke is not alone in his protestations. Victor Billot, writing after the closures in Dunedin, declared that "The closing of the retail outlets around the country was a trial run for the wholesale dismantling of the postal service". (http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/263171/opinion-nz-post-ours-you-wouldnt-know-it)
Surely today's announcement only adds fuel to this claim.
In the Internet age, Postal services are perhaps seen as redundant. In the UK, many local Post Offices have been closed in recent years, due to a "drop in income" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22494919). This may seem like a logical move, in terms of modern business. But the question that must be asked, both in the UK and NZ, is whether our postal services should be run as money spinners, or as a public service.
As Mr Billot put it in his Otago Daily Times article, "This is about jobs, services and the responsibility of a public enterprise to the public." It is about public mail delivery, that does not charge extra for a fast delivery, but runs a competent service to all residents, no matter where they may live.
In the UK, the closures of rural post offices began protests all over the country, and despite the promise to keep 99% of the population within a 3 mile radius of such a service, Parliament figures show that there are nearly 3,000 less branches in 2014, than at the turn of the century. This is part of a decrease of nearly 7,000 branches nationally. (http://www.parliament.uk/Templates/BriefingPapers/Pages/BPPdfDownload.aspx?bp-id=sn02585)
Whilst the scale of the change is smaller, at least currently, in New Zealand, the Postal Worker's Union of Aotearoa is right to speak up about today's change. It signals the next step in a wider shrinking of the postal service, which can be seen as a cut in public services, along the lines of austerity worldwide.
N.B. I'm having some issues with hyperlinking to sources for some reason, so I have just left the links in the text. Apologies for this, I will work on it!
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