New Zealand retail parcel rates to increase by up to 11%
New Zealand Post has said it will increase postage rates for individual parcels on its ParcelPost service by between 5% and 11% from March 1, 2012. The company said the rate rise was being brought in to cover the rising costs of running parcel delivery services.
Since the last across-the-board price increase for ParcelPost four years ago, it said the rate of inflation in New Zealand has seen costs increasing by 11%, while fuel prices have risen by more than 16%.
Even with its price change, New Zealand Post insisted its prices for shipping self-wrapped parcels would remain “at the low end of the market”.
The price change does not affect commercial customers on ParcelPost contracts, and does not affect New Zealand Post’s postage-included parcel bags, which are sold in packs of 10, 20 or 25 and used by just over half the Post’s parcel customers.
Rural surcharge
New Zealand Post said it is also introducing a separate, additional charge of $2.80 (about $2.29 USD) for tracked parcels destined for rural delivery addresses.
Parcels sent to urban areas, even from rural origins, will not incur a surcharge, and the surcharge will not be leveled on untracked parcels.
It said the extra fee reflected the high costs of delivering items in rural areas, adding that the practice of adding a rural surcharge had been “common practice” in recent years among private sector delivery firms.
New Zealand Post has more than 600 owner-drivers working as part of its Rural Delivery Network, who collectively cover about 96,000 km (60,000 miles) each day, reaching out to 220,000 locations around the country.
In a statement, the Post said: “It is regrettable that the changes to the ParcelPost postage rates and additional charge for tracked items for rural delivery addresses have had to be made, however, these increases are required to ensure New Zealand Post maintains a sustainable delivery network.”
New Zealand Post said a new range of in-store parcel services being trialled in its stores in the Kapiti area would be except from the ParcelPost rate increase and the additional rural delivery charge when they take effect in March.
