NZ Post should stay public
New Zealand Post should not follow the global trend towards privatising post systems, says the company’s CEO.
Brian Roche, the CEO of New Zealand Post, told TV3’s The Nation cuts of up to 2000 staff announced on Friday weren’t in preparation for privatisation.
The cuts come as postal systems worldwide - including Britain’s the Royal Mail - go private as consumers continue to move away from sending letters.
“These changes are nothing to do with preparation for anything like that. These just reflect the reality of our business,” Mr Roche said.
“This is about a market phenomena where people don’t send letters.”
“They [the changes] are not some philosophical, right-wing [plan], this is about how do we get a business that people can rely on for the delivery of mail.”
He said moves to privatisation would ultimately be the government of the day’s choice, but he questioned why people would invest in a business that looked like it was in a “state of decline”.
Mr Roche said the postal system currently carried 750 million items, and had evidence from overseas that the number would tail off.
Despite this, Kiwis would still be posting letters in 40 years, he said.
NBR Staff
Sun, 03 Nov 2013
Sun, 03 Nov 2013
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NZ Post should stay public
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