Opinion: NZ post decision a blow to rural New Zealand

Rural Women New Zealand

Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) is deeply disappointed at the decision to approve significant changes to NZ Post’s minimum service obligations, changes that will disproportionately affect our rural communities.

“These service cuts are a step backwards for rural New Zealand,” says Sandra Matthews, National President of Rural Women New Zealand. “They will make life harder for rural people who already face longer travel times, reduced access to services, and unreliable digital connectivity.”

Under the new arrangements, rural mail delivery will be reduced from five days a week to three and the number of postal outlets will drop from 880 to 500, and then to 400 over four years. There will also be an increase in communal collection points over individual mailboxes.

“Rural New Zealanders rely heavily on postal services, not just for mail but for medication, paying bills, receiving essential deliveries, and maintaining business operations. For many, frequent, accessible post services are a necessity.Our rural communities are made up of hundreds of small businesses integral to the success of our main export earners, primary industries and tourism. The food and fibre sector alone makes up 10.5% of our GDP.These changes may reduce some costs to NZ Post, but they certainly won’t help increase productivity or maintain the viability of our regional communities,” Matthews says.

Insights from RWNZ’s membership reinforce the depth of concern. In a 2024 survey of members:
• 96% identified maintaining NZ Post’s current service standards as important.
• 56% indicated they rely on NZ Post’s mail services more frequently than three days per week.
• 93% said a reduction in postal outlets, if it included their local outlet, would negatively impact them, their family or business.
• 88% signalled that converting their mailbox delivery to a communal collection point would negatively affect them.
• 44% suggested that using digital mail services (emails, online postal services etc.) as a substitute for sending and receiving physical mail and parcels would be hard for them.

“While we acknowledge the commitment that no rural retail service point closures will take place in the first year of the revised Deed, over the longer-term forcing people to travel long distances to access a post outlet or shared mail hub creates a significant barrier. This is a particular problem for older and more isolated rural residents, and makes doing business in rural areas even harder,” Matthews says.

“Digital connectivity issues are also far more prevalent in rural areas, where internet coverage and mobile reception can be patchy. This makes rural communities significantly more reliant on physical mail services.”

RWNZ also notes that NZ Post, as a State-Owned Enterprise, is obligated under the State-Owned Enterprises Act to act with a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the communities in which it operates. “Where is the social responsibility in decisions that isolate rural New Zealanders, strip away essential services, and ignore the unique challenges these communities face.”

RWNZ is calling on the Government to engage in dialogue with rural communities over how the most negative impacts of these changes can be mitigated and suggests dispute mechanisms could be instituted for affected communities.

“We also want to see a geographic criterion in NZ Post’s Deed of Understanding to protect access in rural and remote areas, a review of NZ Post’s operating model to identify more equitable service options, and for NZ Post to be upfront about the post outlets in rural areas it plans on closing,” Matthews says.