NZ Post announces 'significant job losses' due to declining mail volume

The New Zealand Post announced on Tuesday that there will be "significant job losses" in its workforce as mail volumes further decline.

NZ Post chief executive David Walsh said the job cuts will come as the organisation moves to progressively stream mail into its parcel network.

"This decision means that there will be significant job losses in existing mail delivery, processing, and support roles," he said in a statement. "Since this is a long-term plan, no employees are directly affected by the move to one delivery network right now and our focus is on supporting our people with this change."

Just Transition programme amid redundancies

According to Walsh, the NZ Post recently signed a Just Transition support programme with the E tū union that will support those who may be affected by the redundancies.

"We need to continue to make hard decisions about our future as we evolve to meet the needs of New Zealanders," he said.

"We are continuing to invest in growing an unmatched delivery business, while managing a transition to a commercially sustainable mail delivery service as we move toward one network for mail and courier delivery. These are not always easy decisions to make."

Walsh noted that consultation with employees and unions had been taking place starting October 2023 before the decision was made.

The announcement confirms the organisation's statement in June 2023 that it will eliminate hundreds of mail delivery roles over the next five years. In 2016, NZ Post also said it was slashing around 500 positions amid falling mail volumes.

Declining mail volumes

The recently announced job cuts stem from the organisation's decision to move mail delivery to its parcel network amid declining mail volumes.

"Currently we have two separate delivery networks – one for mail and one for parcels. This will over time cease to be commercially viable as mail volumes continue to decline and we have therefore confirmed our decision to progressively stream mail into our parcel network to create a sustainable and cost-effective service through one network," Walsh explained.

Mail volumes have decreased to around 220 million mail items in the current year, a massive drop from the more than one billion mail items 20 years ago.

"We predict that this will decrease to about 120 million items by 2028," Walsh said.

He noted that the decline isn't unique to New Zealand, and that postal services around the world are also addressing the challenge of maintaining a costly mail service with very low usage.

Move to contracts for postal workers

But the decision won't just deliver job losses to workers across NZ Post's workforce - it also means some workers will be moved to a contracting model, according to the E tū union.

Terry Howells, postal worker and E tū delegate, said people are "quite downtrodden" about the decision.

"A lot of posties took this job because it's a good lifestyle, and this will be a major disruption to that. I can’t see it working in the long run," Howells said in a statement.

"Being directly employed comes with all the employee benefits we've built up over time. I don't think contractors are treated well here at all, the contracts are tough. Going into that side would be horrible, really. We can see it leading to exploitation, particularly for migrants."

He added that affected workers are still asking for NZ Post on what the next steps will be.

"We need more concrete information. The company needs to be a bit more upfront on what direction they're going in. That's a crucial part of the transition ahead."