![File photo: RNZ](https://www.odt.co.nz/sites/default/files/story/2025/02/nz_post.png)
Posties are disobeying an order from NZ Post to return mail to sender, rather than mark it up with the correct PO box number.
The Postal Workers Union says it has been unsuccessful in its attempts to have NZ Post abandon the policy, which means mail is returned to sender if it is not addressed to a PO box when one is available.
The union raised concerns last month that a new directive from NZ Post would mean letters went undelivered, with workers no longer allowed to look up the box number - or recall it from memory - and write it on the envelope as they used to.
It included addresses such as hospitals, government departments, courts, medical centres, lawyers, accountants and rest homes - and there was no refund for the cost of postage.
At the time, NZ Post chief customer officer Bryan Dobson said the company would "no longer be offering this free readdressing service" as it was "a hugely time intensive process".
"Most big businesses, government agencies, shops etc have both a physical address (where the building is located; and not usually eligible for mail delivery) and a postal address (usually a PO box where their mail gets sent)," he said in a statement.
Mail was still being delivered, so long as it was correctly addressed. And with people communicating more online anyway, it was part of a raft of changes to streamline mail delivery.
But the union said on Sunday it was hearing from members the claims the mark-up process was "time intensive" was "nonsense", and it was more inefficient to return mail to sender, only for it to come back across the posties' desks when the sender tried again.
Union co-president John Maynard told RNZ "incredulous" members were told by NZ Post that people needed to learn how to address mail correctly.
He said some posties, upset with the rule change, were marking-up mail with PO box numbers anyway - and one had been "berrated in front of all of his colleagues" by his manager for doing so.
"We haven't had anybody yet who's faced a disciplinary, but if we do, we'll be taking it up quite vigorously."
NZ Post said it had been proactively working with impacted mail receivers to ensure that they have sufficient time to communicate a valid delivery address.
But Maynard said the union had been receiving calls from around the country from businesses concerned their customers' mail was not getting through.
On top of that, posties were concerned they could find themselves the focus of the anger and frustration of both the senders and receivers, when mail addressed in good faith, with the correct postage, was returned to sender.
Maynard said he believed the policy change was to prepare for the company laying off all 700 mail delivery employees and having the mail delivered instead by couriers who, working as contractors and not as employees, would not be redirecting those letters.
Dobson from NZ Post said the "streaming [of] mail into our parcel delivery network" would "help NZ Post to manage the high cost of delivering much less mail than we used to, allowing us to have a commercially sustainable mail delivery service".