An NZ Post spokesperson confirms they’re closing their CourierPost collection counter at Queenstown’s Jock Boyd Pl, meaning anyone who’s not at home to collect a parcel will either have to go to NZ Post Wakatipu — at Frankton’s Unichem Summerfields Pharmacy — or the NZ Post Queenstown Box Lobby, in the CBD.
It’s also where they’ll have to drop off items to be couriered, or wait for a driver to collect them.
The counter’s shutting from February 10 — a sign on the depot’s door says it’ll enable their staff to "focus on getting parcels to where they’re going, faster".
The spokesperson tells Mountain Scene, though, the main reason for the change is "to eliminate health and safety risks from having customer-facing services being provided at a depot where many trucks and vans go to and from all the time".
It will also "streamline NZ Post services in retail locations where customers can access our full-service offer in a proper retail environment".
But Queenstowner Warren Williams, who runs an online business and gets items couriered every day, believes it’ll cause no end of headaches for the resort’s small business community.
"This is going to rock the boat. This is a little town that’s very important for this kind of service. It is serious."
Williams says the change means people who need items sent overnight will either have to battle traffic, parking and roadworks to get to the NZ Post centres or wait for a courier to come — likely the next day — to pick them up.
He estimates it’ll add about two days to deliveries, but also questions if the alternative centres have enough room to store all the packages they’ll need to deal with.
"It’s just kind of a dumb move — to me it doesn’t make sense to close the depot."
