New Zealand Post is to hike the price of a standard domestic letter by 17% from 60 cents to 70cents, as of 1 July 2012, and also put up the price of international courier services.
The postal operator justified the increase on the grounds of rising costs and stressed thiswould be the first increase in the ‘standard letter rate’, covering medium-size letters, sinceOctober 2010. The company said it does not anticipate any further price adjustments to the standardletter rate for at least two years.
Prices for other domestic mail services will also go up. The FastPost price for medium-sizeletters will increase to $1.40 from $1.20, while large, extra-large and oversize letters will alsoall cost more. Bulk mail rates will increase, too. Domestic parcel prices already rose earlier thisyear.
Sending internationally with NZ Post will be more expensive from July 1. The InternationalExpress Courier service and International Economy Courier service will each rise by 2.5%, as willinternational bulk mail rates. International parcel rates and international air mail letters,however, will remain unchanged.
NZ Post stated that the increases reflect the changing postal environment locally andinternationally. “Letter volumes continue to decline due to increased uptake of electroniccommunication, while simultaneously the cost of transporting, processing and delivering letterssteadily increases,” the company said.
