Kiwibank and New Zealand Post have announced they are closing four joint branches around Dunedin.
The South Dunedin, Moray Pl, Dunedin North and Mosgiel NZ Post and Kiwibank branches are affected.
In a statement sent yesterday afternoon and timed to co-ordinate with a similar statement by Kiwibank, NZ Post confirmed it was now ``looking for local businesses to help us ... deliver postal services that are currently available from the ... [four affected branches]''.
A similar statement from Kiwibank said it was opening a stand-alone banking branch in the Dunedin CBD.
The four Kiwibank and NZ Post branches will continue ``as usual'' until postal partner businesses were secured, the statement said.
A similar process began last year in Alexandra, and the town's post office operations were moved to a Paper Plus shop earlier this year.
Of the five workers formerly employed in the Alexandra post shop, only one had secured a full-time job at the new franchise, ETu union, which represents some post shop staff, said.
The confirmation comes after South Dunedin Business Association chairman Craig Waterhouse launched a petition to lobby for the retention of NZ Post and Kiwibank services in King Edward St.
The petition was the result of a meeting at which a group of about 20 South Dunedin residents voiced their opposition to potential closure, citing the number of elderly or disabled people, and those without cars, who relied on the popular post shop and bank.
