Petition for PostShop

Photo: IMOGEN NEALE

PUTTING PEN TO PAPER: District councillor Brent Catchpole, left, and shop-owner Mahesh ‘David’ Patel have launched a petition to keep the bill payment and Kiwibank services at the popular Princess St shop.

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The end is not necessarily nigh for a popular Takinini PostShop.

Papakura councillor Brent Catchpole and the owner of the Princess St shop have launched a petition opposing New Zealand Post’s decision to move the shop’s Kiwibank and bill payment services to a new outlet in Southgate shopping centre.

Owner Mahesh ‘David’ Patel says losing the services will have a negative effect on his business but the petition isn’t "just for my sake".

"A lot of people don’t have vehicles – people are expressing their concern that it’s not a good thing."

NZ Post announced the changes late last year, saying the move was about supply and demand.

At the time group retail manager Michelle van Gaalen said Southgate has become a high destination shopping area for people in Takanini and its surrounding area.

"We appreciate that changes involving a reduction in services may inconvenience some individuals and this is taken into account. "However we have to use our resources wisely and ensure we have a sustainable network with reasonable access to our services for the majority of customers."

NZ Post’s Southgate centre was supposed to be up and running by the end of this month but a spokesperson has confirmed that the site doesn’t yet have resource consent.

Mr Catchpole says their petition will be put in Princess St shops and delivered around the community.

He hopes more than 1000 people will add their names to the fight.

"It’s so frustrating," Mr Catchpole says.

"The big banks are all deciding to go back into the community but NZ Post’s consolidating.

"It goes completely against what Kiwibank was set up to do."

Papakura mayor Calum Penrose is less than impressed with the move and says he’s fought it "tooth and nail".

"They’re doing it to us, not with us," he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News