Anger after post box removal

Wayne Hall is unhappy his local post box has been removed. Photo / Stephen Parker

Three suburban post boxes in Rotorua have been removed after an average of just seven letters a day were posted into each.

The post boxes were removed from outside the Lynmore Dairy, Ngapuna Dairy and Rosedale Dairy (Owhata) last week.

Lynmore man Wayne Hall said the first the community knew about it would have been notices placed on the boxes, which appeared four weeks before they were removed.

Mr Hall said he called New Zealand Post and was told the reason for removal was lack of patronage.

"I would have preferred New Zealand Post to have alerted communities these boxes were at risk unless there was more usage.

"I think to take away three at once is a bit excessive."

He said he would have liked to have seen at least one or two remain, and see if the patronage could increase.

New Zealand Post Rotorua area manager Trish Adler said the company monitored the use of post boxes and removed them if customer use was very low.

"We monitored the mail going into these post boxes for six weeks and, on average, seven letters a day were being posted into each of the boxes.

"This low number means it just wasn't viable for us to maintain and service these boxes.

"A label was placed on each of the boxes for four weeks advising customers of our intention to remove the box and providing a number people could call with feedback.

"We received only one call about the Lynmore box during this period."

She said the three post boxes had been replaced with a new one at the Redwood Shopping Centre and New Zealand Post had received good feedback on the new location from businesses and customers.

"It's a secure and convenient location, and we're pleased to see that lots of people are using the new post box."

She said there were 34 post boxes across Rotorua and the company would continue to monitor how many items were being mailed in them.