Rural NZ Post agencies closing

Services are retreating a little further from the rural communities of Māpua and Upper Moutere, with the NZ Post agencies closing down in each area as of Monday, 12 August.

This will leave residents with the option of travelling to either Motueka or Richmond for full postal services, including bill payments.

Domestic postal services will continue to be offered in Brightwater.

In both instances, the agents offering the services – the pharmacy in Māpua and the general store in Upper Moutere – have decided to discontinue them, under agreement with NZ Post.

Representatives from both stores are citing financial viability as the key reason.

The personal PO boxes are also being removed from these sites and will be relocated to Richmond’s PaperPlus.

The black-and-red “street receiver” post boxes will remain.

Ruby Bay’s Annie Coster travels into Māpua every day, and uses the post office there several times a week to send items for her business.

She says the pharmacy staff are “very community-minded” and she is upset that NZ Post is “not differentiat[ing] between anything except turnover”.

She says the post office used to be a public service.

“They haven’t considered their demographic… and they won’t. They only work in numbers.”

A staff member at Upper Moutere’s On the Spot says that some members of the community have expressed distress at the changes, with one saying that she was now looking at an hour return-trip to check her post box.

Store owner Sovannara Pich says that the postal services, which are one of many amenities that they provide, have been on the decline. He also states that the postal system updates have proved “too much for a local store to keep up”.  

He indicates that he would still be happy to sell stamps and post bags within the store.

There has been confusion within the communities about exactly what services will still be available, and an NZ Post spokesperson has clarified that residential mail delivery would continue as usual.

“The Upper Moutere mail deliveries are five days a week and Māpua is split in two rounds Monday, Wednesday and Friday (for the Māpua township area) and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (for the Māpua/Ruby Bay areas).

“In terms of parcels, we are currently exploring a couple of options – one being the ability to get re-deliveries from the Motueka Post Shop with our customer being able to book this service online - including placing an authority to leave on the parcel.”

The spokesperson says that the organisation partners with third party agencies to offer postal services.

“When an agency closes or decides to no longer offer postal services, NZ Post will consider a number of options on whether to partner with another agency in the same community, such as whether there is a suitable agency to partner with, whether the new store would be commercially viable and the distance to other stores in the region.”

It says that the low volumes of postal services at both agencies indicate low demand.

“NZ Post is of the view that it wouldn’t be commercially viable to partner with another agency for provision of the same set of postal services in these communities.”

It is, however, looking for other retail hosts to sell basic items such as stamps and prepaid envelopes.