NZ Post confirms price increase

Postage for a Standard Post medium letter for delivery in New Zealand will increase by 10 cents to 60 cents from 1 October. As part of a number of changes announced by New Zealand Post, the postage for larger letter sizes for delivery in New Zealand and by FastPost will also increase. The new recommended retail prices for postage stamps will include the increased rate of GST.

Postal Services chief executive Peter Fenton said the increase in domestic postage was one of the measures needed to maintain the postal network in the face of rising costs, increasing delivery points and declining mail volumes.

“In the past five years, mail volumes have declined by over 100m to 887m items – that’s a drop of over 10%. In the same period, the number of places we deliver to has risen by more than 160,000 to almost 1.9m addresses. So we are delivering 20% less mail per mailbox than we did just three years ago,” Fenton said.

“We continue to work more efficiently. In the past year, we have reduced our costs by $30m. However, these efforts alone will not be enough to maintain a viable network servicing 99.9% of homes, farms and businesses throughout the country,” Fenton said.

The last increase in postage for a Standard Post medium letter, from 45 cents to 50 cents, was in June 2007. In 2008 postage increased on some larger letter sizes.

“Even with the postage increase, New Zealand has one of the lowest standard letter postage rates in the OECD,” Fenton said.

“People can continue to send letters at the current postage using the KiwiStamp non-denominated postage stamp, which holds its value even after postage increases,” he said.

A KiwiStamp postage stamp purchased at the current recommended retail price of 50 cents can be used after the postage increase takes effect without the need for an additional stamp to meet the required postage (For instance, with a KiwiStamp postage stamp there’s no need to apply a 10 cent stamp to reach 60 cents on a Standard Post medium sized letter). From 1 October, each KiwiStamp postage stamp will have a recommended retail price of 60 cents.

Other changes

New Zealand Post is also making a number of other changes effective from 1 October, including:

Parcels for delivery within New Zealand

The required postage for parcels has been changed to maintain a system where postage increases in logical steps in relation to the weight and size of a parcel.

The required postage for an untracked ParcelPost DLE-sized parcel will drop by 10 cents to $2.40; for an untracked ParcelPost C5 parcel, it will remain at $3; and for an untracked ParcelPost C4 parcel it will increase by 20 cents to $4.20.

The required postage for most ParcelPost Fast (untracked), and tracked parcels up to 5kg will increase but remains the same for ParcelPost tracked parcels over 5kg.

The recommended retail price for the ParcelPost Postage Included bags will remain unchanged.

International letters and parcels

The postage required for International Air and International Economy letters, will increase by 10 cents per letter from 1 October. The new required postage reflects the increased costs New Zealand Post is charged for delivering mail overseas. The new recommended retail prices of postage stamps will include the increased rate of GST.

International parcel charges, except International Express Courier, remain unchanged if paid for by PostShop label, Permit Post or a business account. Other payments such as using stamps and franking machines, which attract GST, will increase.

PO Boxes and Private Bags, Holds and Redirects

From 1 October, PO Box rental will increase by $10 per year and Private Bags by $30 per year. The per-week price for households using the holds service will also increase from $5 to $5.50 and for businesses from $10 to $11 (for a maximum of 12 weeks).

Redirections will increase by $5, except Household and Senior Citizen international redirections, which will remain unchanged.

The increases are the first for these services since 2007 and better reflect the costs of providing the service. The new rate of GST will also be included in these increases.