After 14-years the state-owned postal service has changed the terms of its deed of understanding with the Government, which would allow urban letter deliveries to be slashed to three days a week from six, starting in July 2015.
Mail to rural areas would remain at five days a week.
NZ Post had sought to cut rural deliveries to three days but Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams said rural communities remained more reliant on postal services than their urban neighbours.
A viable rural business could not be maintained on three days a week, she said.
NZ Post chief executive Brian Roche said the changes recognised the ongoing and rapid decline in letter mail volumes and that technology, such as self-service kiosks, would provide a significant part of the mail network’s future.
Roche said the new agreement takes into account the differing needs of urban and rural communities and the quality of submissions received by rural organisations, including Federated Farmers and Rural Women New Zealand.
The Government had previously flagged concerns about the impact of reduced mail deliveries on rural people with limited broadband access.
Adams said that was considered before the Government signed the deed because rural broadband capabilities were not yet on par with urban areas.
“As time goes on people are becoming more and more familiar with and competent with and used to using digital communications as alternatives, so I think the distribution factor will be less the longer we give it but not pushing it out so far that NZ Post loses money,” she said.
“This is great news for rural people as many businesses are still heavily reliant on a five-day service,” Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills said.
“New Zealand Post and the Government have clearly listened to our members’ concerns and we are pleased that they have recognised the uniqueness of the rural business model in their deed of understanding.”
Rural Women NZ is also happy with the decision.
"We highlighted that the rural delivery is so much more than just a mail service and anything that threatened its sustainability would have widespread unintended consequences," Rural Women president Liz Evans said.
"It is a wraparound distribution service that is part of the fabric that holds rural communities together.
"Our rural delivery contractors provide a lifeline, delivering supplies, repairs and spare parts, animal health remedies, medicines and courier parcels.
"The five-day service ensures people are able to run their farming enterprises and other rural businesses effectively, even from remote locations," Evans said.
Wills said email was changing the way people communicate and would eventually cause a decline in postal deliveries but that point hadn’t been reached.
“There are still some 86,000 rural people off-line, where rural post is a daily fixture in the running of their business and household,” he said.
Evans said people on-line in rural areas had limited or no cellphone coverage and many were still dealing with dial-up broadband connections.
Since 2002 mail volumes have halved and were predicted to halve again over the next five years.
