New Zealand Post
Encyclopedia
New Zealand Post, commonly referred by its acronym, NZPost is a State owned enterprise
Government-owned corporation
A government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...

 responsible for providing postal service
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

History

The company was created on 1 April 1987 as a State-Owned Enterprise from the corporatisation
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 of the New Zealand Post Office
New Zealand Post Office
The New Zealand Post Office was a New Zealand government department.As a Government Department, the New Zealand Post Office or N.Z.P.O., previously the Post and Telegraph Department or P & T, had as the political head the Postmaster General who was a member of Cabinet, and, when it was a separate...

, a government department, following the recommendations of the 1986 Mason-Morris Review. The other state-owned enterprises formed from the New Zealand Post Office: the erstwhile monopoly telephone operator (Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited), and a savings bank (PostBank
PostBank
PostBank was the trading name of the Post Office Bank Limited, a bank owned by the New Zealand Government. PostBank was formed when the New Zealand Post Office was split up by the Postal Services Act 1987 into Post Office Bank Ltd , New Zealand Post Ltd and Telecom Corporation of New Zealand...

), were later privatised
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

.

New Zealand Post began its life with 1,244 post offices, later rebranded as PostShops. Of these 906 full post offices and 338 postal agencies, 600 post offices or bank branches were downsized or closed after government subsidies expired in February 1988. As of March 1998, there are 297 PostShops, and 705 Post Centres. However, there are now more outlets than before corporatisation
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

, with 2,945 other retailers of postage stamps. There has been a reduction in the 'real' price of postage, with a nominal drop of the postage rate from 45 cents (NZD) to 40 cents in 1996, and restoration of the 45 cent rate in 2004. Since then the cost has risen twice, to 50 cents in 2007 and to 60 cents in 2010.

Regulation

As at 30 June 2004, the makeup of retail outlets was stated in New Zealand Post's 2004 annual report as (minimum as per government regulations in brackets):
  • PostShops (including franchised PostShops and TakeNote outlets): 323 (minimum 240)
  • Post Centres: 698 (no minimum)
  • Total: 1,021 (minimum 880)


The Lange government
Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand
The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It enacted major social and economic reforms, including reformation of the tax system. The economic reforms were known as Rogernomics after Finance Minister Roger Douglas...

's Postal Services Act 1987 also reduced the monopoly of New Zealand Post to a limit of $1.75 and 500 grams. It was gradually reduced to 80 cents in December 1991 until the 1998 legislation took effect.

The Postal Services Act 1998, passed by a National-New Zealand First coalition government, repealed the 1987 Act. The new law provides for any person to become a registered postal operator by applying to the Ministry of Economic Development
Ministry of Economic Development
Ministry of Economic Development may refer to:* Ministry of Economic Development * Ministry of Economic Development * Ministry of Finance and Economic Development * Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development...

. Registration as a postal operator is compulsory for letters with postage less than 80 cents. Despite the Act, government regulation of the company still requires it to maintain certain minimum service levels, such as frequency of delivery.

New Zealand Post's exclusive right to be the 'sole operator' under the Act for the purposes of the Universal Postal Union
Universal Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...

 expired on 1 April 2003. For practical purposes, this meant another postal operator could theoretically issue stamps identified simply as 'New Zealand' with UPU
Universal Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...

 membership. At around the same time, New Zealand Post adopted a fern-shaped identifying mark on its postage stamps, to be used on the majority of its future issues.

Operations

In 1989 New Zealand Post established CourierPost, a nationwide courier company designed to protect the company's parcel business from private competition. By 1998 CourierPost had become the number one player in the express courier market.

In 1999 New Zealand Post launched a 50:50 joint operation with Blue Star. The new brand - Books and More - combined bookshop operations with the more traditional PostShop services. After acquiring 100% of the company in 2004 (by this stage the other 50% had been owned by WH Smith, owner of Whitcoulls
Whitcoulls
Whitcoulls is a major national bookstore chain in New Zealand, formerly known as Whitcombe & Tombs. It has 62 stores nationally. Whitcombe & Tombs was founded in 1888, and Coulls Somerville Wilkie in 1871. The companies merged in 1971 to form Whitcoulls...

 bookshops) the entire operation was eventually sold to Paper Plus in 2005 and by 2006 all had been re-branded as Take Note.

In 2002 New Zealand Post, as part of government policy, opened the bank Kiwibank Limited
Kiwibank
Kiwibank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited. Through Kiwibank, New Zealand Post provides banking services through its PostShops and joint venture Books & More and Papermate outlets throughout New Zealand.The bank was initiated as part of Jim...

in the majority of its PostShop and Books and More (now Take Note) branches. New Zealand Post is the sole shareholder in Kiwibank Limited
Kiwibank
Kiwibank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited. Through Kiwibank, New Zealand Post provides banking services through its PostShops and joint venture Books & More and Papermate outlets throughout New Zealand.The bank was initiated as part of Jim...

 and, on the basis that in this case one share is worth $1, holds 295,000,000 shares in Kiwibank.

In 2002 NZ Post bought The ECN Group
The ECN group
The ECN Group operates in EDI, Business Process Management and Systems Integration. ECN provides all export and import messaging services to and from NZ Customs. ECN has over 3,500 customers....

 which is now New Zealand Post's corporate venturing arm. Its purpose is to develop and market technologies and services that may replace or enhance New Zealand Post's traditional services. The ECN Group focuses on B2B messaging, Business Process Management and Systems Integration, with a presence in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.

In 2004 New Zealand Post announced the formation of Express Couriers Ltd (ECL), a 50:50 joint venture with DHL. Express Couriers operates extensive courier and logistics services throughout New Zealand and encompasses the CourierPost, Pace and Contract Logistics brands. In 2008 New Zealand Post and DHL commenced a similar joint venture in Australia called Parcel Direct Group Pty Limited (PDG).

New Zealand Post also runs the Electoral Enrolment Centre as a business unit under contract to the Minister of Justice. Its function is to compile and maintain all parliamentary electoral rolls.

Current Board members as of July 2010 are Jim Bolger
Jim Bolger
James Brendan "Jim" Bolger, ONZ was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was elected on the promise of delivering a "Decent Society" following the previous Labour government's economic reforms, known as Rogernomics...

, Michael Cullen, Shale Chambers, Pip Dunphy, Murray Gribben, Temuera Hall, David Willis and Justine Smyth.

On 6 July 2010, New Zealand post registered a 100 percent stake in Localist Limited, a local directory and social media site focussing initially on the Auckland region.

By end of June 2011, New Zealand Post will have 910 postal outlets and 280 PostShop Kiwibank stores after shuts and downgrades more than a dozen branches nationwide. To compensate, the company was also planning to install new self-service kiosks similar to ATM
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

s for handling letters, bill payments and parcels.

In 2010 New Zealand Post opened a new division in the media and advertising industry in Auckland. Localist is a new directory service that lets Aucklanders champion their communities and support local organisations and businesses.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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