NZ Post raises mail prices
The cost of sending letters and parcels is going up as the volume of mail continues to fall sharply, New Zealand Post says.
The cost of sending Fastpost mail within New Zealand will increase 50 cents from July 1.
The cost of sending a mediumsized letter will increase from $1.80 to $2.30, a large letter from $2.80 to $3.30, and an oversize item from $3.80 to $4.30.
Letter volumes are declining at a rate of about 60 million items a year, NZ Post said.
The drop in mail volume had an impact on revenue, despite NZ Post’s efforts to reduce costs.
For the last half of 2016, NZ Post reported a profit after tax of $35 million, a loss on the $37m reported profit last year.
Standard Post prices will not change.
Despite higher costs, mailbox owners won’t see a change in the amount of chain mail they receive.
Direct Mail Solutions co-owner Josh Lindsay said the price hike would not affect his business because it gets bulk rates. The company mails on behalf of small to medium-sized businesses nationwide and in Australia.
Lindsay said he mails as many as 10,000 letters at a time for some businesses.
There has been a decline in businesses seeking Direct Mail’s services over the years; however, it had seemed to be picking up recently, Lindsay said.
Lindsay said the drop-off of invoice mailing was partially responsible for the decline, but the amount of marketing material the company mailed out was rising.
‘‘Your inbox gets so bombarded, so to achieve any kind of cutthrough [marketers are] looking at the mailbox.’’
Auckland Debt Collectors owner Colin Smith said his business’s use of the mail service was limited nowadays compared with what it used to be.
Smith said the move would be business suicide for NZ Post. ‘‘It certainly does affect everyone.’’
But he plans to continue using the service. ‘‘We just do whatever we need to to be able to get in touch with people,’’ he said.
There will also be a 2.55 per cent price increase for all domestic parcel products and services for commercial accounts, including Courierpost, Pace, and Parcelpost.
Postage prices last went up in July 2015.
Saturday delivery surcharges will increase 20c, and the rural delivery surcharge will rise 50c.
International Express Courier products will rise up to 10 per cent for items heavier than 1 kilogram, while all products under that weight will increase by $5.