Postcodes in New Zealand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In June 2006, New Zealand introduced a new postcode system, which, unlike the previous system, will apply to all items of mail, whether sent from within the country, or from overseas, from June 2008.

There are 1850 postcodes, with up to 10000 locations in each code. They start with 0 in Northland and progress southward, ending with codes starting with 9 in Otago and Southland.

Contents

[edit] Modes of delivery

In cities and large towns, the last two digits indicate one of the four modes of delivery, as illustrated by addresses in Palmerston North:

  • Street address, in which mail is delivered directly to homes by the 'postie';
43 Vogel Street
Roslyn
Palmerston North 4414
  • PO Box address, in which mail is delivered to a private box, usually at a Post Shop' (formerly Post Office) for collection;
PO Box 400
Palmerston North Central
Palmerston North 4440
  • Private Bag, in which a private mail bag is delivered to an organisation such as a large company or a government department
Private Bag 11222
Manawatu Mail Centre
Palmerston North 4442
Railway Road
RD 10
Palmerston North 4470

[edit] Suburbs

Under the new system, most suburbs in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch now have their own postcode. Under the previous system, a single postcode could cover several suburbs - for example, '1003' was used for twelve suburbs in Auckland - but each postcode now covers only one or two suburbs:

6 Ferryhill Road
Epsom
Auckland 1023
2 Avenham Walk
Mount Eden
Auckland 1024
3 Laurel Sreet
Mount Albert
Auckland 1025

[edit] PostShop lobbies

Each PostShop lobby now has its own postcode. Under the old system, some covered several PO Box or Private Bag number ranges in the same city, for example, whereas '1730' was used for several PostShops in South Auckland, each now has its own postcode:

PO Box 51000
Pakuranga
Manukau 2140
Private Bag 76912
Manukau 2240
PO Box 38234
Howick
Manukau 2145

[edit] Previous system

Postcodes were first introduced in New Zealand in 1977, but these were used entirely for pre-sorting large volumes of mail in bulk, similar to the Mailsort system used by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom. Consequently, post codes were not usually seen in addresses:

New Zealand Post
Private Bag 39 990
Wellington

New Zealand Post did not require individual items of mail to include the post code in the address, as optical character recognition (OCR) enabled automated sorting machines to scan entire addresses, rather than just post codes, as is the case with older machines. Until the early 1990s, all mail was sorted manually.

Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were divided into postal zones, which were incorporated into the post code system for use in bulk mailings. For example, for the former Wellington 4:

Flat 2
173 Park Road
Johnsonville
Wellington 6004

In cities and large towns, the last two digits indicated the mode of delivery, as illustrated by addresses in Palmerston North:

Street address:

43 Vogel Street
Palmerston North 5301

PO Box address:

PO Box 4000
Palmerston North 5315

Private Bag address

Private Bag 11222
Palmerston North 5320

Rural Delivery address

Railway Road
RD 10
Palmerston North 5321

NB: New Zealand Post required that no space was inserted between the letters 'P' and 'O' in 'PO Box' or 'R' and 'D' in 'RD'.

[edit] Māori Names

New Zealand Post recognises Māori names for cities and towns in New Zealand; for example, the Māori Language Commission's address is:

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori
Pouaka Poutāpeta 411
Te Whanganui a Tara 6140

In English, this translates as:

Māori Language Commission
PO Box 411
Wellington 6140

In spite of the considerable difference between the two languages, there was no need to add the post code under the old system, which in this case would have been 6015.

[edit] Freepost

Mail to Members of the New Zealand Parliament is delivered free of charge to the sender. The cost is deducted from the Member's budget:

Rt Hon. Helen Clark MP
Parliament Buildings
Wellington 6011

Other Freepost mail includes a unique number as well as the PO Box or Private Bag number:

CARM
Freepost No. 112002
PO Box 913
Dunedin 9054

[edit] Third party Registered Postal Operators

Until recently NZ post has had the majority of influence on Private Box rentals. But now DX Mail and Private Box provide an alternate solution for people who need a remote box address. Along with the new competitors in the marketplace NZ Post may find it difficult to keep up with the new addressing system, which is why they have set a standard for addressing mail.

[edit] External links