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November 01, 2021

New Zealand moves to three days a week mail service

Times are changing with postal services around the world thanks to people's reliance on smartphones and email.

New Zealand recently agreed to cut its mail delivery to three days a week in urban areas and five days a week in rural areas, since they're more reliant on mail, by 2015. Normally, mail is delivered six days a week.

The New Zealand Post fought for the change since it currently barely breaks even. If the normal delivery schedule continue, the service would be put it in the red, according to the Telegraph.

During the last 10 years, the amount of mail sent has dropped by a quarter and it's expected to continue rapidly dropping. The nation continues to lose another eight per cent each year, the communications minister told the Telegraph.

Anyone looking for daily mail deliveries can sign up for a premium courier-type service, but it will be interesting to see how businesses and newspapers adjust to this change.

Meanwhile, Canada Post looks like it is in a boat that is steadily sinking. The Crown Corporation saw a $104-million loss in Q2 of this year and it expects a huge loss in 2013. As if that was not enough, they are expected to face a yearly loss of $1 billion by 2020, according to a report produced by the Conference Board of Canada.

It's important to point out that its letter delivery dropped by 51 million pieces since Q2 of 2012, while parcel packages have grown thanks to more online shopping. Unfortunately, the letters, otherwise known as transaction mail, which includes bills and statements, account for 50 per cent of the company's revenue. Tough times are ahead, especially with companies pushing paperless billing.

At least there is some hope for Canada Post's parcel delivery. Canada Post recently announced a partnership with Walmart, Best Buy and Indigo to try same-day delivery. Anyone who orders items by midday can expect to receive it in the evening. A pilot program is being tested in Toronto.

Some of the cost-cutting options floated around include getting rid of door-to-door delivery mail in urban areas, which is available to one third of Canadians, which could cut the bleeding by about half, the Conference Board told the CBC. Canada Post is also looking into consolidating mail processing, implementing new technology for sorting and shortening hours at slower retail locations.

While residential owners might not mind a shift in the number of deliveries a week, apparently it will be a bigger issue for small business owners who are more reliant on the regular postal service.

But let's face it, drops in mail service are being felt around the world. The U.S. Postal Service planned to cut Saturday mail service, but it faced resistance, while Britain recently privatized its mail service, Royal Mail. Who knows if other countries' mail services will follow New Zealand's route.

Would you mind less frequent mail service?

Josephine Lim, MSN Money

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Gordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...