Latest / Best of Business / James Hartley: MBIE Communications Infrastructure and Trade General Manager on the proposed changes to NZ Post's services

Transcript

James Hartley: MBIE Communications Infrastructure and Trade General Manager on the proposed changes to NZ Post's services · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks the'b Follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iheartradiogeather
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Dope to see it well, Welcome to.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Away in nine two nine two is the text number.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Standard text fees apply now on domestic issues, it looks
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: like you're going to get fewer mail deliveries. There is
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: a proposal to cut mail deliveries in towns and cities
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: from three times a week at the moment to two
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: times a week, and then in rural areas from five
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: to three times a week, and also to cut the
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: minimum number of post shops from eight hundred and eighty
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: right down to five hundred. Now MB's in charge of this,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and the guy in charge of post at MB is
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: James Hartley. Hey, James, Hi, Yever, this is out for consultation.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: But I mean this is headed in only one direction,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: isn't it. This is going to happen, isn't it.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: We are looking forward to getting feedback from community on
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: how they use their postal service. But the reality here
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: is that we know that Kiwi's ascending a lot fewer
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: letters than they used to and two than two for example,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: one billion that has went through the postal system. It's
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: now down to about one hundred and eighty million, so
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: that's a huge decline over that period and it's continuing
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: to decline. So we think it's the right time to
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: seek some public feedback on it's the best way to
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: maintain a mail service whilst ensuring that Enzi Post remains
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: financially sustainable as well.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Do we actually need a mail service.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Acdotally? The feedback we have is that some communities still
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: very much do rely on the mail service. I think
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: particularly those in rural areas maybe the as well. We
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: are seeing numbers declining in urban areas, for example, the
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: average postbox gets about two leaders per week and rural
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: areas it's three leaders per week. But there's declining, but
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: it is still important for some people and that's why
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: we seeking feedback on how are people using the mail service,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: what do they want from their mail service?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Because I mean, if there are how many okay, how
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: many people do you reckon there are in the country
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: who say to you, yeah, yeah, we actually really need this.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: We are in the elderly community or whatever, and we
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: have to have the mail delivered. What proportion of the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: country do you reckon that is.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: It's hard to judge, and that's that's kind of exactly
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: why we are seeking feedback from the community.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: We know you reckon, though, James, because I reckon, I reckon.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: You're a bit of an expert. So what do you reckon?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Do you? How big do you think? It is?
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Said? You know, most letter boxes will be receiving mail
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: each week. We knowed about ninety nine percent of the
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: male that goes through the system is from either businesses, organizations,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: or the government, So only about one percent of letters
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: are sent by individuals. So that's pretty small, and it's
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: obviously dropping has dropped since since the advent of email.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Were to take that feedback, who is still using the
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: letters of the Maile system? What do they want from
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: the male system?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Why don't you guys just go hard and the pin,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: like make the bold call, pull the pin and force
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: anyone who still sends letters to use the career service.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: So there are still one hundred and eighty million letters
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: going through the system at the moment, yep.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: But James, how much of that is crap? I mean, like, honestly, genuinely,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: most of the mail that I get is like estate
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: agents who still have me on their database, sending me
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: letters that I don't want.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: I guess you give me a second feedback. What we
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: are doing is negotiating the government's deed within their posts,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: which sits out probably for a three to five year
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: period that mail.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: That I'm trying to give you an out here, James,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to say, like you know, let's do this,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Let's take the hard decision, let's make the people use
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the career and shut this nonsense down. What do you reckon?
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: I reckon? I'm keen to hear from the public about
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: what their expectations are, and especially those in raal communities
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: and and the elderly as well. How are people still
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: using as a male system. Maybe maybe the fe years
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: to come might be a broader conversation around around mail.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: But mate, it's not far away, though, is it, James?
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Like I reckon like one hundred percent of my lifetimee
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: in your life, Don't I reckon in the next ten years,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: we're going to shut this down? Don't you reckon?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Hard to say. If it's ten years, what do you reckon?
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Then?
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I honestly don't know. That's why we
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: are we are seeking this feedback from the public. How
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: are people using the male system. This is not a
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: uniquely new Zealand issue and we've seen postal systems around
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: the world grappling with this issue. So you know that
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: in Australia, for example, have us moved to every other
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: business day for their deliveries as well, So it's something
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: that everyone is grappling with. The people are still sending
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: mail at the moment.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Listen, explain to me why is it that rural areas
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: get more deliveries in towns and cities.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: As I said, actually the stats are that the rural
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: areas to get more LEAs per week on average than
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: than the urban and then the urban counterparts. So it
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: does appear that rural users are using the mail service
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: a bit more. Again, we're keenness to dig into that
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: bit more. What what are your's expectations for the mail service?
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Is there a differential an expectation between rural and urban areas?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very interesting, James, listen, thank you very much, really
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: appreciate it. That's James Hartley, MB's general manager of Communications
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: and Infrastructure.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talks b listen live on air
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: or online and keep our shows with you Wherever you
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio,