Postie hoarder sacked after stockpile found at home

1938 envelopes and packages were recovered from his house this week. Photo / NZME.

A postie who stockpiled nearly 2000 pieces of mail at his house has been sacked from the job.

An investigation was launched after people in the Helensville and Parakai area complained they weren't receiving their mail on a regular basis.

Mail in that area is delivered by Customised Deliveries Ltd, a company subcontracted by NZ Post.

A NZ Post spokeswoman said 11 official complaints were made and the company soon discovered the mail had been stockpiled at the home of a postie who appears to have become overwhelmed by the amount of mail he had to deliver.

"The subcontractor had taken the undelivered mail home, holding it and then tried to get through it the following day," she said.

"Inevitably this piled up as each day he fell further and further behind."

The undelivered mail - 1938 envelopes and packages - was recovered from his house this week.

"Our investigation showed that [he] had not been managing the volume of his round for three to four weeks. Over that period, he had been delivering a portion of his round and holding over a portion of it."

A resident from Helensville, who did not want to be identified, said locals started noticing something was wrong late in December.

The resident said some locals began asking family members from other parts of the city to send something to them, as a tester.

The postie will not face any police charges.

NZ Post said the way he acted was not acceptable - but acknowledged there had been no criminal act, according to the company.