A new PostCentre providing Mahora with postal and courier services will open on 16 October 2009. Post box services will be available from 12 October.
New Zealand Post has established the PostCentre in conjunction with the Mahora Pharmacy, 907 Tomoana Road, following the sudden and unexpected closure of the Mahora PostShop, at 916 Tomoana Street, on 14 August as a result of the franchisee placing his business into voluntary liquidation.
Group Retail Manager, Michelle van Gaalen, said that since the franchisee closed the former PostShop, customers have been directed to nearby PostShops and mail addressed to Mahora Post Office boxes has been redirected to the Hastings PostShop Kiwibank for over-the-counter collection.
In the meantime, New Zealand Post had conducted a review of services appropriate to the Mahora area, considering factors such as the proximity of similar services, customer shopping habits in the area both now and in the future, and the viability of the business going forward – particularly because PostShop franchisees are required to make a capital investment in their stores.
“Our review confirmed that there is very good accessibility to Kiwibank and bill payment services in Hastings generally and for Mahora customers there are three PostShop Kiwibanks within a radius of about 2 kilometres. We have therefore decided that Mahora is best suited to a PostCentre, providing postal, courier and post box services.”
“While we appreciate that this is a different level of service to that previously available in Mahora, we are confident that most people in Mahora travel to other parts of Hastings for other reasons and will still have handy access to Kiwibank and bill payment services,” said Ms van Gaalen.
The nearest stores are the Hastings PostShop Kiwibank at 100 Market Street (1.8 kilometres away), the Hastings Paper Plus PostShop Kiwibank, the Plaza, Russell Street (1.8 kilometres away), and the Stortford Lodge PostShop Kiwibank at 1100 Heretaunga Street (2.2 kilometres away).
Ms van Gaalen thanked the Mahora community for its patience as New Zealand Post worked as quickly as possible to re-establish postal, courier and post box services.
“We spoke to a number of Mahora businesses in our search for an alternative host business capable of providing a postal, courier and post box service. They have shown tremendous support and I particularly thank Rob Duncan whose pharmacy will host the new PostCentre. I’m sure Mahora residents will in turn support him.”
New Zealand Post regularly reviews its New Zealand-wide network of over 900 PostShops and PostCentres.
“To meet the needs of the majority of our customers, we regularly review the locations of our PostShops, which includes assessing the surrounding area of each PostShop in addition to shopping habits and future trends,” said Ms van Gaalen.
“In the past year we have made more than 20 significant enhancements to our network of over 300 PostShops; we’ve opened new stores, refurbished them or relocated them to better places to improve our services.
“We appreciate that changes involving a different level of service may inconvenience some people, however we have to use our resources as effectively as possible and make sure that we have a business that is sustainable both now and in the future,” she said.
ENDS
Issued by:
Keith FitzPatrick
Media Communications Manager
New Zealand Post Group
04 4964566
027 4539882