James Hartley: MBIE Communications Infrastructure and Trade General Manager on the proposed changes to NZ Post's services

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is asking for feedback on Kiwi postal services. 

It's proposing changes to NZ Post - including fewer weekly deliveries and reduced postal outlets 

People are sending 813 million fewer mail items than they were 20 years ago.

MBIE Communications Infrastructure and Trade General Manager James Hartley says this is the right time to hear from the public on the best way to maintain services.

"We know Kiwis are sending a lot fewer letters than they used to - 2002, for example, one billion letters went through the postal system. It's now down to $180 million. There's been a huge decline over that period... we think it's the right time."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Idgather do to see it?

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Welcome to away in nine two nine two is the
text number. Standard text fees apply now on domestic issues.
It looks like you're going to get fewer mail deliveries.
There is a proposal to cut mail deliveries in towns
and cities from three times a week at the moment
to two times a week, and then in rural areas
from five to three times a week, and also to
cut the minimum number of post shops from eight hundred

(00:24):
and eighty right down to five hundred. Now MB's in
charge of this, and the guy in charge of post
ad MB is James Hartley. Hey, James, hi, Yever, this
is out for consultation. But I mean this is headed
in only one direction, isn't it. This is going to happen,
isn't it.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
We are looking forward to getting feedback from community on
how they use their postal service. But the reality here
is that we know that Kiwi's ascending a lot fewer
letters than they used to. In two thousand and two,
for example, one billion letters went through the postal system.
It's now down to about one hundred and eighty million,
so that's a huge decline over that period. And it's

(01:00):
continuing to decline, so we think it's the right time
to seek some public feedback on it's the best way
to maintain a Maile service whilst ensuring that Enzi Posts
remains financially sustainable as well.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Do we actually need a mail service.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
And totally. The feedback we have is that some communities
still very much do rely on the male service. I
think particularly those in rural areas, maybe the older as well.
We are seeing numbers declining. In urban areas, for example,
the average post box gets about two letters per week,
and rural areas it's three leaders per week. And there's declining,

(01:41):
but it is still important for some people, and that's
why we're seeking feedback on how are people using the
mail service, what do they want from their male service?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Because I mean, if there are how many okay, how
many people do you reckon there are in the country
who say to you, yeah, yeah, we actually really need this,
we are in the elderly community or whatever, and we
have to have the mail delivered. What proportion of the
country do you reckon?

Speaker 1 (02:03):
That is? It's hard to judge, and that's that's kind
of exactly why we are seeking feedback from the community.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Do you reckon though, James, Because I reckon, I reckon.
You're a bit of an expert, So what do you reckon?
What do you how big do you think it is?

Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's a said you know, most letterboxes will be receiving
mail each week. We know that about ninety nine percent
of the mail that goes through the system is from
either the businesses, organizations, or the government, So only about
one percent of letters are sent by by individual So
that's pretty small, and it's obviously dropping has dropped since

(02:38):
since the advent of email. We're au to sake that feedback.
Who is still using the letters of the mail system?
What do they want from the mail system?

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Why don't you guys just go hard and pull the pin,
like make the bold call, pull the pin and force
anyone who still says sends letters to use the career service.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
So there are still one hundred and eighty million letters
going through the system at the moment.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yip, But James, how much of that is crap? I mean, like, honestly, genuinely,
most of the mail that I get is like estate
agents who still have me on their database send sending
me letters that I don't want.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I guess again, with the six sequent feedback. What we
are doing is negotiating the government's deed within their posts,
which sits out probably for a three to five year
period that I'm trying to give you an.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Out here, James. I'm trying to say, like, you know,
let's do this, Let's take the hard decision, let's make
the people use the career and shut this nonsense down.
What do you reckon?

Speaker 1 (03:44):
I reckon? I'm keen to hear from the public about
what their expectations are, and especially those in rural communities
and the elderly as well. How are people still using
as a male system? Maybe maybe the few years to
come might be a broader conversation around around mail.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
But mate, it's not far away, though, is it, James?
Like I reckon, like one hundred percent of my life
done in your life? Do I reckon in the next
ten years, We're going to shut this down? Don't you reckon?

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Hard to say. If it's ten years, what do you reckon? Then?
I don't know. I honestly don't know. That's why we
are we are seeking this feedback from the public. How
are people using the male system? The book? This is
not a uniquely new Zealand issue and we've seen postal
systems around the world grappling with this issue. So you
know that in Australia, for example, Debus moved to every

(04:32):
other business day for their deliveries as well, so it's
something that everyone is grappling with. The people are still
sending mail at the moment.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Listen, explain to me why is it that rural areas
get more deliveries in towns and cities.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
As I said, Actually the stats are that the rural
areas do do get more least per week on average
than the urban and then the urban counterparts. So it
does appear that rural users are using the mail service
but more. Again, the kingdes to dig into that a
bit more. What what are yours expectations for the mail service?

(05:07):
Is there a differential an expectation between rural and urban areas?

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, very interesting, James, listen, thank you very much, really
appreciate it. That's James Hartley, MB's general manager of Communications
and Infrastructure. For more from Heather Duplessy Alan Drive listen
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