NZ Post delaying mail in favour of parcels, union claims some homes getting mail just once a week

Wednesday, 16 June 2021

CCTV shows two women dressed in NZ Post uniforms taking parcels from an Onehunga apartment complex.

NZ Post has directed its posties to prioritise courier parcels over post, with a union claiming this means some homes get only one mail delivery each week.

The claims by the Postal Workers Union of Aotearoa are being downplayed by NZ Post, which says mail is only unprioritised as a last resort and only after every other avenue to get mail delivered on the day has failed. Just 1.43 per cent of mail was returned to base undelivered at the end of the days during May, figures supplied by NZ Post show.

NZ Post has been forced to reinvent itself in recent years with post shop closures commonplace and the rise of the internet leading to a steep drop in post. The Government gave NZ Post $130 million over three years in its 2020 Budget to allow it to maintain its service levels.

Union organiser John Maynard said posties around the country were now “regularly reporting to the union their concerns about the large amounts of mail that are not taken out for delivery or are being returned to the delivery depots undelivered because of overwhelming workloads”.

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New Zealand’s postal workers' union claims NZ Post is deprioritising mail. (File photo)

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NZ Post says mail only drops down the priority list when all else fails. (File photo)

Posties were told on March 4 of NZ Post’s new priorities when the workload exceeded time in the paid day: Tracked courier parcels were top priority, followed by tracked mail, then regular mail, he said.

“Posties are then left to explain to frustrated residents and businesses why sometimes they only get one mail delivery a week,” Maynard said.

It is alleged that some mailboxes only receive post once a week. (File photo)

The union was happy with posties taking parcels but Maynard said the workload was now so large that it was common for mail deliveries to be put on hold.

NZ Post chief operating officer Brendon Main said posties were “not told to prioritise” though he confirmed a memo was sent out on March 4. That memo spelled out the process if all mail could not be delivered on time, starting with posties calling in to get help to finish the round that day.

If that failed, posties were asked if they could do overtime to finish the entire run on the day. Only if that failed were they asked to deliver courier parcels as a priority.

“Very rarely do you get all the way down there,” he said.

When that happened, NZ Post tried to get someone out the following day – as opposed to the next scheduled day – to finish delivering the mail, he said.

NZ Post supplied a copy of the March 4 memo, which said leaders should only assign a workload that could be done in a day but, if that could not happen, spelled out steps posties should take.

Maynard said overtime was actively discouraged in many sites and, while the first port of call for a postie behind schedule, was to ask for help, there was usually no help available.

NZ Post, a state-owned enterprise, posted a $31 million profit in the year to December 2019 and, soon after, chief executive David Walsh said the delivery of 34 million parcels in the previous six months was to thank for that.

“While there is 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.

There were no plans to reduce mail delivery from its obligation of three deliveries a week, he said.

“Our service standards will continue.”