NZ Post has thousands of parcels in storage that can't be delivered to businesses
New Zealand Post has thousands of parcels in storage that could not be delivered to businesses which were closed during lockdown, although it is getting through the backlog as lockdown levels ease.
At the start of the week the state postal service had about 80,000 parcels in storage, although that had now shrunk to about 62,000 and is continuing to drop as businesses re-open following a step down to alert level 3, a spokeswoman said. Most were business-to-business deliveries, she said.
“We can’t deliver to businesses that are closed,” the spokeswoman said.
Unlike residential addresses where parcels could be left in mailboxes or instructed to be left in specific areas, at businesses there was often nowhere secure for parcels to be left, particularly if they required a signature, she said.
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That has affected businesses like Christchurch-based Tuatara Machinery which sells all-terrain vehicles, primarily to farmers.
Owner Geoff Hill couriered a laptop with specialised software to one of his farmer customers to enable the vehicle to be reprogrammed. However NZ Post was unable to deliver the parcel to the farmer’s business in Kumeu because of lockdown.
Hill said the tracking information stated the parcel was being processed at the depot, and he was frustrated he had not been contacted about the issue and that no attempt was made to deliver it to an alternative address.
“This is despite the fact that the laptop was required to support an essential business and it creates a serious problem for our business because I also have another farmer customer who requires the same service and this is the only laptop that I have with this programme installed,” he said.
The NZ Post spokeswoman said that in normal times, the postal service may have contacted senders to ask about alternative delivery options, but during lockdown its priority has been to ensure essential items were getting to consumers.
On the first day of level 4 lockdown on August 18, 43,000 items went into the NZ Post network which then could not be delivered to businesses. The other half of the parcels went into the network over the next two weeks.
Of the parcels which remain in storage, half are in Auckland, which is the only area of New Zealand which remains in level 4, with the rest of the country in level 3.
“As businesses open, we can deliver to them,” she said, although she noted that was subject to some delays across the network due to a general increase in the volume of parcels.
“In terms of this customer, we are really sorry that his experience with us has been frustrating,” she said. “We understand how important his item is to him and we are going to look into it with a matter of urgency and see what we can figure out for him.”
She asked that people don’t send parcels to businesses that are closed.
“Make sure that the address that you are sending the parcel to is the appropriate address, and that there is someone there to receive it if you are doing signature required,” she said.