Rural post rant

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Rikkitic

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Topic # 190752 11-Jan-2016 12:58

Is there anyone on these forums from NZ Post? This has come up before but I need to vent my spleen.

I am absolutely sick to death of rural courier post. To be clear, I have no problem with the regular post, even though deliveries have been cut back. I see the rationale for reduced services and I have also always found the regular post service to be quite good. I feel that if one chooses to use regular post, one should be prepared to wait as long as it takes for delivery, and in practice the delivery times are not unreasonable at all in my experience.

Rural courier post seems to be another matter. I try to avoid using it whenever possible but since the holidays I have needed to make several small purchases on Trade Me and it has become difficult almost to the point of impossibility to find traders willing to use regular post. I look for them, and when I can find them with the items I want, I use them, but when I have no choice, I have no choice.

I have spoken about this before. Rural courier post is delivered in exactly the same way as regular post, no faster, no better, no extra service. Yet it costs on average three times more plus whatever handling charges the trader tacks on. Small items that would cost no more than $1 - $3 by regular post can be as much as $10 by courier post, with no added benefit whatsoever for the recipient. What I don’t get is why I should have to pay this huge added charge for absolutely nothing. The package takes just as long, it comes in exactly the same way with the rural postie, it has just as much chance of getting lost, it doesn’t get delivered on the same days as the regular post, and it gets left unguarded in exactly the same way in the mail box. So what am I paying all the extra for?

(As a separate matter, I would not have such a problem with this if Trade Me traders used ‘real’ courier services, as some, though not many, do. If my extra payment means my package will arrive sooner, even on days with no post delivery, and be brought to my door so no-one can nick it from the box, then at least I would have the feeling that I was getting something for the extra cost. But most traders offer no other options. It is rural courier post or nothing.)

Is it NZ Post policy to use the inflated courier post charges to subsidise the regular post? I would really like to know. As far as I can see, rural courier post is nothing more than a giant rip-off of those forced to rely on it. I would welcome any arguments to the contrary.

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Reply # 1467515 11-Jan-2016 12:58

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Hmmmm. Here we go.

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richms

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Reply # 1467520 11-Jan-2016 13:02

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Move then. This is obviously causing you stress to not have the services of an urban house.

The added charge is because the courier company has to pay when they hand things over to the rural post guys.

If they didnt charge more, then urban deliveries would be subsidizing the rural ones even more than they are at the moment.

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Rikkitic

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Reply # 1467535 11-Jan-2016 13:11

Well, I said it was a rant. The thing is, the rural post guy is already being paid to bring out the mail. Nearly all my rural post packages would qualify as mail if the traders didn't insist on sending them as rural post. So what am I paying these extra charges for? That is my question.

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Reply # 1467539 11-Jan-2016 13:14

I have actually had same day delivery from a few places through rural delivery (order placed in the wee hours so it was processed first thing that morning).

There is two different rural delivery guys that service this area, up from what used to be just the One guy. Due to frequent deliveries, you get to know them quite well. Leads to them being rather trustable and reliable in my experience.
Our mailbox is at the end of a 300M driveway, Delivery guys always come all the way down to the house, Even for Envelope sized packages.

In terms of extra security, if a package is left anywhere, Its not in a shared letterbox, but stored nicely on the property.

This experience is consistent throughout the area, NZ post website Does have mention about organizing all this sort of thing with them to how your Rural delivery packages are handled, AFAIK we never did have this conversation though maybe you should try?

Absolutely though, the Rural charge can be a hefty figure when you consider it brings you no real benefit. We used to be able to use our non RD address to skip over the fee half the time, but it is shady and not really worth the effort. Far easier to mark it for RD straight off and it tends to get here faster.
I put the Rural fee down to, much like the daily fuel cost to return home.. Just another cost to accept for living out in the sticks.

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richms

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Reply # 1467542 11-Jan-2016 13:15

You are paying them because the sellers choice of delivery service is charged them and passes that charge on.

There are many reasons that people dont send by NZ Posts postal services, main one for us was lack of a pick up service from them and unreliable tracking that actually cost more than the real courier charged.

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 1467551 11-Jan-2016 13:22

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Pretty much no sympathy sorry.

Farmers make me pay world auction prices for dairy and export prices for meat, so all being fair they should pay the true cost of stuff flowing the other way. I'm looking at you Rural Broadband Levy!

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rphenix

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Reply # 1467603 11-Jan-2016 14:04

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What about getting a PO Box then and having everything delivered there in town? Alternatively if your rural you should know a local shop owner in the closest town ask if you can have items delivered there and pickup when things arrive.

gzt

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Reply # 1467619 11-Jan-2016 14:20

Rikkitic: I have spoken about this before. Rural courier post is delivered in exactly the same way as regular post, no faster, no better, no extra service. Yet it costs on average three times more plus whatever handling charges the trader tacks on. Small items that would cost no more than $1 - $3 by regular post can be as much as $10 by courier post,

Wait a sec. I don't really understand this. Here's my understanding:

Regular post - national delivery same price anywhere within standard size envelopes
Rural post - additional charges for parcel delivery
Courier post - a courier service with different pricing structure

Why rant against NZ Post because trademe sellers choice of dispatch and delivery? The seller is making that choice.

If you think that there should be one national price for all NZ Post parcels then by all means say so that will be a very clear point and we can agree or disagree on that.

gzt

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Reply # 1467628 11-Jan-2016 14:31

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Imho your beef is with trademe seller(s) using one convenient supplier for a national coverage of one delivery service provider and seller is prepared to pay a premium for this over other services for their seller convenience and passes the cost on to you. This I can understand is annoying.

Rikkitic

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Reply # 1467644 11-Jan-2016 14:58

gzt:
Wait a sec. I don't really understand this. Here's my understanding:

Regular post - national delivery same price anywhere within standard size envelopes
Rural post - additional charges for parcel delivery
Courier post - a courier service with different pricing structure

There is regular post, as you describe, urban courier post, which costs more, and rural courier post, which costs even more. There may well be a service difference between regular post and urban courier post. I don't know as I have never used urban courier post as other a sender or receiver.

My complaint is about rural courier post. This costs more than any other option, but the service is identical to regular post. A small item that can cost as little as $1 by regular post, can cost as much as $10 (more usual is at least $6) by rural courier post, but it is delivered in exactly the same way. It doesn't come any faster. It doesn't receive any special service. It just gets delivered along with the regular mail by the rural postie into the mail box.

So: regular post, cheap, same price nationwide, no complaints from me; courier post, more expensive, maybe better service in town, don't know; rural courier post, identical in every way to regular post except it costs much more. So what am I paying extra for? That is my question.

No, I do not expect a single price for all post nationwide beyond what already exists for regular post. I do expect that if there is something called 'rural courier post', and if it costs a lot more than regular post, then it should also behave like courier post and come faster with more service. Isn't that why I have to pay extra for it? As long as it is indistinguishable from regular post, then it should cost the same, or only a little more. There is no justification for current charges.

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Rikkitic

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Reply # 1467646 11-Jan-2016 15:00

gzt: Imho your beef is with trademe seller(s) using one convenient supplier for a national coverage of one delivery service provider and seller is prepared to pay a premium for this over other services for their seller convenience and passes the cost on to you. This I can understand is annoying.

Yes, it's the lack of choice that gets me but also the actual cost of rural courier post, which I find exorbitant for the service provided.

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gzt

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Reply # 1467688 11-Jan-2016 15:30

Rikkitic: I do expect that if there is something called 'rural courier post', and if it costs a lot more than regular post, then it should also behave like courier post and come faster with more service. Isn't that why I have to pay extra for it?

Once again it is the seller making that choice for reasons known only to the seller. If you were genuinely making that choice you would choose something different.

Rikkitic

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Reply # 1467749 11-Jan-2016 16:19

Thanks for the feedback. I know my complaint isn't going to change anything but I am curious to know what other people think about this.

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Reply # 1467766 11-Jan-2016 16:35

One is a regulated and subsidised service, the other is a user pays model. Couriers are far more convenient for sellers compared to mucking around at the post office.

Get over it, move or I guess you can just complain. It won't change any thing though.

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Reply # 1467809 11-Jan-2016 17:21

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Sounds like you need to talk to Courier Post, or the Courier company that is delivering the packages.
If it is a couriered package it should be delivered to your door. Unless there is some reason the van can't get up your driveway.

Courier delivery and rural post delivery are two different services and are usually contracted out. So if it is the same person delivering your mail and your courier packages they have both contracts. And probably has an agreement with other courier companies to deliver on your run too.
But couriered items should be delivered to the door. That is part of the extra cost, door to door.

And just to be clear.
Courier Post is a courier company like New Zealand Couries or Post Haste and have nothing to do with the postal service. Other than the fact that Courier Post is owned by New Zealand post.

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