NZ Post to scrap its FastPost Service
E tū Union industry co-ordinator Joe Gallagher says the move could mean job losses.
New Zealand Post has revealed it is scrapping its FastPost service next year as it has become “unsustainable to maintain.”
NZ Post emailed all its customers using the service this morning informing them it is abandoning the service as of January 1 next year.
The changes come after a review of its products and services, which found that, with less mail to deliver, a more efficient way to maintain a sustainable network needed to be found to remain commercially viable.
“FastPost is an expensive service to operate. With only 1% of domestic mail currently using the service, and this volume decreasing each year, it has become unsustainable to maintain,” NZ Post said this morning.
The changes will not affect standard post, which delivers three times a week and there will be no changes to the international outbound mail.
"Letter volumes continue to decline significantly, at a rate of approximately 60 million items a year and despite, cost reductions, this change is necessary."
But a new “priority mail service” will be made available in and between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
FastPost costs between $2.30 and $4.30 depending on the size and weight of the package.
The union for NZ Post workers, E tū, says NZ Post’s decision to wind up its Fast Post service signals the end of an era but also reflects the reality of today’s postal services.
E tū industry co-ordinator Joe Gallagher says the move could mean job losses.
But he says NZ Post has said it intends to redeploy affected posties wherever possible, as business booms for its parcels and logistics business as well as NZ Post’s Courier Post service.
“That’s where the business is moving,” Mr Gallagher says.
“Fast Post business dropped 23% over the past year. On the other hand, demand has surged for parcel deliveries for customers such as The Warehouse, My Food Bag and Amazon.”
MORE TO COME
Jason Walls
Wed, 16 Aug 2017
Wed, 16 Aug 2017
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NZ Post to scrap its FastPost Service
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