NZ Post’s Christchurch Mail Centre targeted in theft

A police investigation has led to the charging and conviction of a person who stole mail from NZ Post’s Christchurch Mail Centre (CMC) over a period of up to two years, beginning 2020.

While the offender was not a NZ Post employee or contractor, they managed to gain access to the CMC after hours.

We are unable to ascertain the number of items taken as the offender destroyed some mail items.

“NZ Post acknowledges it is awful to be a victim of theft. We are disappointed with the actions of this offender, especially the impact it may have caused to our customers.

“We wish to sincerely apologise to our customers.”

Some of the items have been recovered by police and returned to NZ Post.

“We are currently in the process of sorting through some of the mail items which have been recovered and contacting impacted customers. Where it is possible to identify the receiver or sender of the mail, then those items will be returned to them.”

NZ Post also conducted an independent investigation into the theft and have since implemented new security procedures at the CMC.

“We have reviewed our security procedures to ensure we are doing all we can to minimise the risk of this happening again in the future.

“NZ Post takes delivering what people care about very seriously and we are extremely disappointed that our customers have been targeted in this way.”

NZ Post has notified the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

NZ Post also wants to remind customers to not send cash, vouchers or active gift cards through the mail network (as they are considered prohibited items), but rather use a tracked courier product for these items.

For any questions, you can contact the police directly through their non-emergency phone number 105 or online at www.police.govt.nz and quote the police case number 210322/6924.