{"id":264458,"date":"2026-02-02T21:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/264458\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T21:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:42:08","slug":"fears-for-elderly-and-disabled-as-nz-post-pulls-services-from-five-northland-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/264458\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears for elderly and disabled as NZ Post pulls services from five Northland stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some customers from the township of Maungat\u0101pere<\/a> used their services, more than 10km away.<\/p>\n

Those services included a PO Box system, parcel collection and sending, letter-sending and bill payments.<\/p>\n

The pair have lived in Whang\u0101rei <\/a>for 35 years, first managing the dairy on the corner for 20 years. Some 15 years ago, they moved into the Te Mai Post Centre.<\/p>\n

Customers included residents of nearby retirement villages and Whang\u0101rei Hospital<\/a> staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have customers that have been coming here for 15 years,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The pair were looking to retire, but, with the NZ Post part of the business gone, there wasn\u2019t much left to sell. <\/p>\n

Their new options were to either sell the building or find tenants with a business of their own.<\/p>\n

\u014cpua General Store<\/a> manager Harpreet Singh said he would be sharing feedback from the community with NZ Post today. <\/p>\n

Many had reacted with concern over the change, with the closest NZ Post services nearly 6km away.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just local customers who would be impacted, Singh explained.<\/p>\n

\u014cpua served a large international market who were commuting from place to place, and the waterfront postal services were a practical option.<\/p>\n

Singh said the store had provided postal services since the early 1900s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe post office has always been part of \u014cpua from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Tikipunga, the local dairy manager, who did not want to be named, was equally frustrated.<\/p>\n

They worried about the impact on the older generation who liked to send parcels and often asked for help to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elderly people around here that come in here that now can\u2019t,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people don\u2019t even have phones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mid North Grey Power secretary Bruce Crowther felt the changes marked another step towards isolating the region\u2019s older generation further.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the thin end of the wedge,\u201d Crowther said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess to services is difficult in this province and it\u2019s only getting worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of us can\u2019t see, some of us have trouble standing up and walking, some of us no longer have a licence, or we can\u2019t afford a car.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Moerewa Blue Lagoon Four Square owner Balvantkumar Patel, that was also the case for some of his customers.<\/p>\n

Much of the demographic in the immediate area were retirees.<\/p>\n

Patel was also concerned about the impact on those who relied on the PO Box system.<\/p>\n

Residents in wider rural areas made use of PO boxes for ease, he explained.<\/p>\n

Mangawhai GAS<\/a> shareholder Sheila Hassall was also thinking of the rural community.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our customers here are rural and coming down here to post their parcels is quite convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said pulling the \u201cbread and butter\u201d service would have a \u201chuge impact\u201d on the local community.<\/p>\n

For Tiaho Trust chief executive Jonny Wilkinson<\/a>, it was an equity issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a disability perspective, the closure of local post office services highlights a growing digital divide between those who can easily access and navigate online services, and those who cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paying bills, sending forms, or accessing government correspondence was more accessible in person, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf public services continue to move online without maintaining accessible, local alternatives, we risk deepening isolation and exclusion for disabled people and older people, especially in rural areas.<\/p>\n

NZ Post general manager consumer Sarah Sandoval said the organisation made its decisions after a careful, evidence\u2011based review of how customers were using services.<\/p>\n

She said some stores were identified early as being visited less often, and those owners were told well in advance.<\/p>\n

The full network review, combined with analysis of customer behaviour, drive times and retail data, shaped the final decisions announced last week.<\/p>\n

Sandoval said maintaining access to postal services remained a priority, but acknowledged the changes would be an adjustment for some.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe approach we have taken has allowed us to design a retail network with the right mix of stores and services in the right locations, ensuring access for communities while keeping the network sustainable for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the changes, NZ Post services will remain at 14 retail stores across Northland.<\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some customers from the township of Maungat\u0101pere used their services, more than 10km away. Those services included a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2840,95,806,138,40750,2841,14134,9522,15453,2893,28164,1342,2082,71,14724,151073,130,111,139,1067,11225,69,3117,28221,3175,1321,653,131,1533],"class_list":["post-264458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-across","tag-and","tag-as","tag-business","tag-communities","tag-country","tag-decision","tag-disabled","tag-elderly","tag-fear","tag-fears","tag-five","tag-for","tag-from","tag-further","tag-isolate","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-northlanders","tag-nz","tag-post","tag-pulls","tag-rural","tag-services","tag-stores","tag-than","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}