Paekākāriki will lose its private PO boxes but, through a new provider, retain its other postal services, reports Mark Amery.
News that Paekākāriki would be one of 10 stores around the country of 142 to be successful in retaining NZ Post’s services has proved short-lived. A decision that had followed the Paekākāriki community rallying to protest NZ Post’s decision.
What, however, NZ Post then offered Paekākāriki’s Village Grocery Store was some, not all, of the services currently offered, says proprietor, Bhavesh Morar. Not offered were international parcels and post box services.
Morar says the store appealed the restricting of these services, but were told within 24 hours that the decision was final.
This has led the store to the difficult decision to end their contract with NZ Post at the end of May and instead enter a contract with NZ Couriers, who will deal with international parcels and, through their sister company, DXMail, also enable the sending of letters.
This means the ability to send letters and parcels in Paekākāriki won’t be affected, but the provider will change.
“What sealed it for us was that NZ Couriers were able to offer more of a service to us than NZ Post were able to. The whole reason for the campaign and asking NZ Post to review the decision was because we wanted to make most of the services accessible.”
NZ Post’s proposal after the review still saw Paekākāriki lose both its public postbox and its private PO Boxes, says Morar.
Of the 100 PO Boxes, 38 are occupied. Of those 38, currently 20 are paid for and 18 are allocated for free by NZ Post because they are places they won’t deliver to. Those services, Morar believes, will now be moved to Paraparaumu. The village’s PO Boxes currently service other local areas like Waterfall Road (Emerald Glen) and properties on Paekākāriki Hill Road, although 62 private PO boxes are currently vacant.
The decision to lose the PO boxes was, Morar says, something they pushed back on, and the decision was reviewed by an independent panel.
However, with the loss of the public post box, Morar is working on new options to ensure that the service is catered for. He is particularly mindful of the elderly, those with mobility issues or without vehicles.
“I’ve spent the last two weeks analysing what are the best way to combat these changes. I’ve done it in a way where I’m quite confident we won’t lose all our services.” “I’ve found a way around it, but I’ve had to change companies to provide Paekākāriki pretty much full service again.”
“All we’ve tried to do is go in and bat for Paekākāriki. Get the best possible outcome. I know change makes people nervous, especially elderly people because they’re used to a way of things ticking over. So I want to give reassurance that they will still be able to send their parcels. It’s just the process will be slightly different, and they can go through that with us.”
The Raumati general store (which didn’t have private PO boxes) has also lost their NZ Post services – a decision they appealed, but lost. Paekākāriki–Raumati Ward Councillor, Bede Laracy, requested a ministerial intervention on the issue. In response, government minister, Simeon Brown, noted that NZ Post is under review in light of the decrease in mail volume from 1 billion items in 2000 to 145 million items in 2025.
Images: Bob Zuur and Mark Amery
