NZ Post to extend trial of mobility scooters to cut costs of mail, freight deliveries
Feb. 12 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand Post is to extend a trial of customised mobility scooters that allow posties to
deliver both parcels and letters, helping the state-owned mail service cut costs as the internet shrinks letter volumes.
The two and three-wheeled electric scooters were trialled in Wellington's Hutt Valley last year. NZ Post said today it
will hold more extensive trials of combining letter and parcel deliveries, including a pilot in New Plymouth to test the
vehicles further.
Domestic letter volumes shrank 7 percent to 642 million pieces last year and are forecast to drop below an annual 500
million in the next three years as consumers switch to the internet, email and social media for everything from paying
bills to sending birthday greetings and keeping in touch with loved ones.
NZ Post's 2014 profit declined 12 percent in 2014 and would have dropped further without the contribution of earnings
from its Kiwibank unit.
The postal service today confirmed plans to reduce standard mail deliveries to every second day for households in urban
areas, starting in July an d rolling out to smaller centres over the next two years. Six-day-a-week deliveries would
continue for priority mail and courier parcels.
“We’re making these changes in response to people sending fewer letters," said NZ Post mail and communications chief
operating officer Ashley Smout. "Our analysis shows the average household receives letters just three days a week."
(BusinessDesk)