Price of sending letters likely to rise again

NZ Post has reported a big jump in its profits after it delivered a record number of parcels over Christmas. But chief executive David Walsh said it would probably increase the price of sending letters again, later this year. The state-owned enterprise posted a profit of $31 million for the six months to the end of December, up from a profit of $7m during the same six months the previous year. Walsh said it delivered 34 million parcels during the half-year, but letter numbers fell by 11 per cent to 177 million. ‘‘While there’s no doubt that the growth in profit generated from parcel delivery is good news, NZ Post continues to manage the challenge of a declining number of letters being sent,’’ he said.

‘‘This coming year will be important as we plan to meet the opportunities of e-commerce and start to invest for growth.’’

He said last year’s local government elections helped letter volumes, but it had to ‘‘face the reality that New Zealanders are relying less on letters to communicate’’. Walsh clarified that it was not planning for a reduction in its obligation of delivering mail three times a week. ‘‘Right now there are no changes to our letters business. Our service standards will continue.’’ But he said prices could rise. ‘‘We typically make our pricing announcement about two or three months from now. It is quite likely we will continue a small price path increase on letter services.,’’ he said.

Last year, NZ Post increased the price of posting a standard letter by 10 cents to $1.30.