It will cost 60c to send a domestic letter by standard post
from October 1, New Zealand Post said today.
The increase of 10c was needed maintain the postal network in
the face of rising costs, NZ Post said.
"In the past five years, mail volumes have declined by over
100 million to 887 million items - that's a drop of over
10%," Postal Services chief executive Peter Fenton
"In the same period, the number of places we deliver to has
risen by more than 160,000 to almost 1.9 million addresses.
So we are delivering 20% less mail per mailbox than we did
just three years ago," Mr Fenton said.
"We continue to work more efficiently. In the past year, we
have reduced our costs by $30 million. However, these efforts
alone will not be enough to maintain a viable network
servicing 99.9% of homes, farms and businesses throughout the
country," he said.
As part of a several changes announced by New Zealand Post
today, 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.
The last increase in postage for a standard post medium
letter, from 45c to 50c, was in June 2007.
In 2008 postage increased on some larger letter sizes.
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