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To: CE of NZ Post, Minister for SOEs, Minister for Seniors

Keep Postal Services in Naenae

Restore postal services to the Naenae Community

Why is this important?

The recent complete withdrawal of the postal services has upset our community - the residents and the surrounding small businesses and shops.

For Naenae residents, it now means that they have to travel out of the suburb for NZ Postal Services, such as posting, courier pick-ups / drop-offs, bill payments, vehicle registrations, etc. The closest postal agency now is in Avalon. For older persons, and others such as those without access to a car, this is a $9-$10 taxi trip one-way. For those using the bus system, the NZ Post Office in Queensgate Mall is the most accessible (but not the nearest) Post Shop at a cost of $4 one-way.

Naenae is one of the most socio-economically deprived suburbs in the country, with a significant proportion of the residents on limited fixed incomes, many with no or limited access to vehicles and the internet (i.e., internet banking). With the removal of the postal services, many Naenae residents end up spending money they can't afford to get to a Post Shop in order to complete necessary everyday household business transactions so they can keep their lights on, their homes warm and their telephones working.

Many of our residents also use the postal service to send and receive letters, postcards, care parcels and gifts to (grand)children, family, and friends. Now, there is an additional cost and inconvenience to do so.

Removing the postal services from Naenae represents an unreasonable imposition of costs and time for a service which was reasonably in demand from the 8,200 Naenae residents.

The removal of the postal services from Naenae has also had a noticeable negative affect on the small businesses and retailers in the Naenae shopping area. They are losing out on business from people who would shop and/or get their prescriptions filled before of after using the postal services. Retailers have commented on the noticeable drop in people and in business transactions since the postal services left Naenae.

We want Naenae to be a strong, vibrant community where people are able to access essential services in their community. We want to support our small businesses and retailers in our town centre / shopping area. Keeping the postal services in Naenae plays an important part in doing this.

Note: We understand one of the reasons why NZ Post removed all postal services was because they didn't have another shop to partner with. We have at least 3 businesses in the shopping area who put their hand up when the removal of the postal services was announced and who are still interested in set up postal services in their shops.

This petition was written by Lillian Pak and Chris Norton, on behalf of Team Naenae Trust, in response to numerous queries and concerns expressed to Team Naenae Trust both individually and at the Trust's community meetings.

Lower Hutt, New Zealand

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Updates

2018-10-18 16:06:30 +1300

100 signatures reached

2018-10-18 10:08:16 +1300

50 signatures reached

2018-10-18 08:09:57 +1300

25 signatures reached

2018-10-18 06:57:23 +1300

10 signatures reached