27 Jun 2013

NZ Post 'failed to adapt' to changing technology

4:31 pm on 27 June 2013

A technology commentator says New Zealand Post failed to adapt to changing technology and this is why it is now having to cut costs.

The company announced on Wednesday it is to close mail centres in Wellington, Hamilton and Dunedin and expand others at Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch.

Five hundred jobs will be lost, but 380 others will be created. Further redundancies are possible within the next year in the delivery business and at Post Shops.

New Zealand Post Chief executive Brian Roche said mail volumes are declining at 8% per year and are expected to continue to decline. The number of items of mail processed is down by nearly 200 million in the past decade.

Commentator Peter Griffin said the company had tried to move with the times such as its investment in social networking site The Localist, but this had been less than successful.

Mr Griffin said New Zealand Post needs to invest in research and development so it can offer customers new and improved services they can't get elsewhere.

Financial adviser Brian Gaynor said the company had inherited a lot of surplus infrastructure and an outdated business model and needs to downsize.

The changes will be phased in from the end of this year. Letters sent across town by standard post will take three days to arrive instead of one day.