Hi Jon,

Thank you for your email.

We have sent this information request through to one of our departments who will be in touch shortly.

OIA Officer
Tukurau Aotearoa | New Zealand Post Limited

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Dow <[FYI request #12835 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 13 May 2020 7:45 AM
To: Oia Officer <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - delivery issues during Covid

Dear New Zealand Post Limited,

On the 11th of this month, you put out Comms to media, and on social media that you are delivering 90% of packages within 2 day. However a very quick search online this is clear that the numbers you are reporting has been not accurate. What is the proof of these stats you are reporting. First hand I have seen this is not accurate, and many people are reporting stats way outside your timelines. Requests for updates going unanswered, people being hung up on.

please provide the following data

Data requested below - is for the period of the first day of level 4 lock-down until the end of level 3

1) Delivery time for packages being picked up and delivered with in the same city a break down of 2 days 3 days etc until delivered . A breakdown by city)
2) Delivery time for packages delivered between islands ( north island and south island )
3) the average processing time from pickup to hand over to a driver (NZ wide)
4) the average time a driver has the package for before delivery (NZ wide)
5) the number of social media complaints about delivery time frames
6) the number of phone call complaints ( how many calls not answered, and wait times per day )
7) the number of emails ( and your response time )
8) how many packages you edited the past due day ( example my package had a due date on your tracking system of the 6/5 on the 11/5 this was changed to the 7/5 a couple of hours before your media releases
9) what day during lock down you started planning to improve services
10) provide internal communications about why it took you so long to communicate with NZ about delays
11) the date you started to ramp up staff numbers and hours.
12) what is the increase of operating costs during this time
13) what is the number of packages you have received during this time
14) at the end of level 3 how many packages have you not delivered that your should have
15) what is the longest time a package has spent in your system during lock-down ( excluding packages waiting for contact by the receiver.) I have already been provided with info around packages being more than 28 days
16) how many packages have been delayed by more that 10 days?
17) what is your income from courier packages during this time

Yours faithfully,

Jon Dow

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hide quoted sections

Hi Jon,

thanks again for your OIA request sent to us on 13 May 2020.

Some of the information that you have requested has taken us longer than normal to process as a result of the large quantity of information that we have had to review. We were also impacted, like many essential services across New Zealand, by Covid-19.

As a result, we have been unable to complete our search within the time-frame. In accordance with section 15A of the Official Information Act 1982, we are notifying you that we will send this information to you by Monday 22 June. This extension allows us to complete our search and finalise the information that you have requested.

We look forward to sending this information to you by Monday 22 June.

In accordance with section 28 of the Official Information Act 1982, you have the right to complain to the Ombudsman about this extension.

OIA Officer
Tukurau Aotearoa | New Zealand Post Limited

This email with any attachments is confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. If it is not intended for you please reply immediately, destroy it and do not copy, disclose or use it in any way.

Dear Jon 

 

Thank you for your Official Information Act request received on 13 May
2020. 

 

You have asked us the following questions:   

 

Data requested below - is for the period of the first day of level 4
lock-down until the end of level 3 

 
1) Delivery time for packages being picked up and delivered with in the
same city a break down of 2 days 3 days etc until delivered . A breakdown
by city) 
2) Delivery time for packages delivered between islands ( north island and
south island ) 
3) the average processing time from pickup to hand over to a driver (NZ
wide) 
4) the average time a driver has the package for before delivery (NZ
wide) 
5) the number of social media complaints about delivery time frames 
6) the number of phone call complaints (how many calls not answered, and
wait times per day) 
7) the number of emails ( and your response time) 
8) how many packages you edited the past due day (example my package had a
due date on your tracking system of the 6/5 on the 11/5 this was changed
to the 7/5 a couple of hours before your media releases 
9) what day during lock down you started planning to improve services 
10) provide internal communications about why it took you so long to
communicate with NZ about delays 
11) the date you started to ramp up staff numbers and hours. 
12) what is the increase of operating costs during this time 
13) what is the number of packages you have received during this time 
14) at the end of level 3 how many packages have you not delivered that
your should have 
15) what is the longest time a package has spent in your system during
lock-down ( excluding packages waiting for contact by the receiver.) I
have already been provided with info around packages being more than 28
days 
16) how many packages have been delayed by more that 10 days? 
17) what is your income from courier packages during this time 

 

We provide answers to each of your questions below. 

 

1) Delivery time for packages being picked up and delivered with in the
same city a break down of 2 days 3 days etc until delivered . A breakdown
by city) 

 

Pursuant to section 9 of the Official Information Act, New Zealand Post
considers this information commercially sensitive and is unable to release
it to you. 

 

2) Delivery time for packages delivered between islands ( north island and
south island ) 

 

 We require more specific information about this question.  For example:
delivery performance varies depending on origin and destination, metro /
rural, overnight vs economy or international.    

 
3) the average processing time from pickup to hand over to a driver (NZ
wide) 

 

As a result of the nature of post and how post is handled, not every item
is given “an acceptance scan” and some customers process their own
acceptance scan on their sites before we collect the item and then that
item traverses the network via processing centres and linehaul.  Whilst we
would need more specific information about this question it is important
to understand that given the nature of postal processing there are many
variables to take into account when processing this sort of information.  

 
4) the average time a driver has the package for before delivery (NZ
wide) 

 
We cannot obtain this information because we are unable to “pin” the time
cycle to an average that you may or may not be referring to as a result of
a number of differing variables.  For example a – typical driver receives
their freight at first cycle (0600) and delivers the same day – however
some freight parcels may be received in subsequent cycles i.e. 07:00; and,
whilst the driver may deliver on the same day, the duration that the item
is in the van will then depend on where the parcel is being delivered to
and whether it is at the end, middle or beginning of the planned route for
each cycle or daily cycle.  Also, not every item is given an “acceptance
scan”, depending on which service the customer has  chosen to use.   
 

We require more specific information in your question in order to provide
the information that you are looking for. 

  

5) the number of social media complaints about delivery time frames 

 

We do not have this information because we do not record it. 

 
6) the number of phone call complaints (how many calls not answered, and
wait times per day ) 

 

We are unable to provide information about how many ‘Call Complaints’  we
receive because  we do not record specifically which calls are ‘call
complaints’, or “call queries”, or “call compliments” and so forth. 

However, we can provide you with the table below that shows  ‘Calls not
Answered’ and the ‘Average Speed to Answer’ (i.e. average time of callers
waited before they were answered) between 26 March to 13 May 2020  

  

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Months  |Date  |Calls Not Answered |Average Speed to Answer [seconds] |
|--------+--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |26-Mar  |492  |81  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |27-Mar  |309  |58  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |28-Mar  |81  |78  |
|Mar-20  |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |29-Mar  |22  |130  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |30-Mar  |1030  |173  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |31-Mar  |507  |101  |
|--------+--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |1-Apr  |438  |86  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |2-Apr  |163  |33  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |3-Apr  |278  |61  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |4-Apr  |31  |27  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |5-Apr  |10  |87  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |6-Apr  |542  |103  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |7-Apr  |800  |169  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |8-Apr  |837  |180  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |9-Apr  |2131  |625  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |10-Apr  |4  |56  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |11-Apr  |176  |182  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |12-Apr  |8  |72  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |13-Apr  |14  |249  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |14-Apr  |2388  |360  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |15-Apr  |2497  |464  |
|Apr-20  |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |16-Apr  |2269  |451  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |17-Apr  |1591  |173  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |18-Apr  |355  |188  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |19-Apr  |6  |58  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |20-Apr  |1391  |176  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |21-Apr  |1831  |233  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |22-Apr  |2059  |327  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |23-Apr  |1768  |294  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |24-Apr  |2078  |345  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |25-Apr  |19  |134  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |26-Apr  |4  |51  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |27-Apr  |118  |37  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |28-Apr  |3366  |326  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |29-Apr  |3211  |374  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |30-Apr  |3906  |568  |
|--------+--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |1-May  |3691  |463  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |2-May  |691  |273  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |3-May  |7  |91  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |4-May  |4726  |687  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |5-May  |4296  |759  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |6-May  |3553  |555  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
|May-20  |7-May  |3605  |698  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |8-May  |3584  |777  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |9-May  |17  |84  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |10-May  |15  |109  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |11-May  |3298  |686  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |12-May  |4612  |999  |
| |--------+-------------------+----------------------------------|
| |13-May  |4446  |1101  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

 
7) the number of emails (and your response time) 
 

We require more specific information about this question because we have
different types of email addresses that handle different queries, and we
would also require date and time ranges.  You can find information on our
website about the different types of online forms and contact pages we
have at [1]www.nzpost.co.nz .       

 

8) how many packages you edited the past due day ( example my package had
a due date on your tracking system of the 6/5 on the 11/5 this was changed
to the 7/5 a couple of hours before your media releases 

 

We do not understand this request; specifically we do not understand the
reference to the term “edited”.   

 

During Covid-19, New Zealand Post responded used a range of media
engagement over a wide period of time, including: issuing statements to
the media in a range of media formats i.e. radio; Our CEO interviewed with
the Media to keep New Zealand up-to-date; we invited media and their
camera crews into our processing centres to show the huge backlog of
postal items that we were working around the clock to clear; and, we did
our very best to keep the New Zealand public informed as to the delays
caused by this world-wide Pandemic.    

 
9) what day during lock down you started planning to improve services 

 

NZ Post is proud to have been classified as an essential service during
the Alert Level 4 Lockdown.  Our teams met constantly through electronic
video calls in order to navigate ways though the world-wide pandemic and
continue to provide postal services across New Zealand in accordance with
the Government requirements.  

 

We, along with the rest of the country, had two days to prepare for Alert
Level 4 lockdown. Towards the end of Alert Level 4 more retailers were
able to sell essential goods online, which increased parcel and mail flow
through our postal system. There was also a dramatic increase in postal
items when New Zealand moved to Alert Level 3, as more shops were able to
sell more goods online. We received 1.5 million parcels in the first two
weeks of Level 3, which is busier than at Christmas time. Usually for
Christmas we have months to prepare; for Alert Level 3 not only did we
have only 48 hours, but as an organisation we pulled together by
re-deploying staff from different departments and working around the clock
to keep New Zealand’s parcels and post moving. Indeed, Alert level 4 and 3
did result in delays, which was a consequence that may essential services
service experienced during the pandemic.  The way that we and other
essential services across New Zealand were able to pull together in order
to respond to the unprecedented situation of the Covid-19 Pandemic and
keep New Zealand moving makes us proud.   

 
10) provide internal communications about why it took you so long to
communicate with NZ about delays 

 

We communicated with New Zealand about the delays through a multitude of
media and acted very fast by putting in place measures to cope with
increased volumes. For example we notified the media with a statement on
May 11 and then updated this further on May 20 that we were experiencing
delays as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic response.

 

 We believe we acted fast, efficiently, and kept our customers informed
via the media about the increase in people buying online which resulted in
a backlog of volume as a result of level 4 restrictions which caused
delivery delays.  

 
11) the date you started to ramp up staff numbers and hours. 

 

New Zealand Post began to hire extra people and vans to handle the
increase in volumes from the end of Alert Level 4 to the beginning of
Alert Level 3.  But, New Zealand Post had been in negotiations with
various companies about seconding their staff in New Zealand Post and how
those staffing arrangement could work, from the start of Level 4.  .. 

 
12) what is the increase of operating costs during this time 

 
Pursuant to section 9 of the Official Information Act, New Zealand Post
considers this information commercially sensitive and is unable to release
it to you. 

 

13) what is the number of packages you have received during this time 

 
We received circa 9.3m packages between 26th  March and the 13th May 

 

14) at the end of level 3 how many packages have you not delivered that
your should have 

 
We had 1.5m items in the network on the 13th May and on that date we
believe up to 1 million were delayed  

 

15) what is the longest time a package has spent in your system during
lock-down (excluding packages waiting for contact by the receiver.) I have
already been provided with info around packages being more than 28 days 
 

We refer to your question and our answer above in point 4. We require more
information as to which aspect of processing you are referring to.    

 

16) how many packages have been delayed by more that 10 days? 

 

We require more information about this question.  For example, not all
parcels and mail items are sent via a tracked service.  Also, some
receivers may have chosen to not pick up their items during some of the
Alert Levels.  There are many variables associated to package delays,
which can be outside of our control. 

 

17) what is your income from courier packages during this time 

 
Pursuant to section 9 of the Official Information Act, New Zealand Post
considers this information commercially sensitive and is unable to release
it to you. 

 

Kind regards,

 

OIA Officer

Tukurau Aotearoa | New Zealand Post Limited

 

 

 

This email with any attachments is confidential and may be subject to
legal privilege. If it is not intended for you please reply immediately,
destroy it and do not copy, disclose or use it in any way.

References

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1. http://www.nzpost.co.nz/