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.
