Tāneatua post box issues solved

Tāneatua Community Board member Luke Ruiterman, left, empties his mail box at the new post boxes as councillor Andrew Iles looks on. Photo / Troy Baker

Tāneatua Post Office box holders are delighted with the response from New Zealand Post to their concerns about the accessibility of their boxes.

“We now have some of the flashest post boxes in New Zealand,” Te Urewera ward councillor Andrew Iles said.

In October the post boxes were relocated from the then empty store next to the Tāneatua Superette to the corner of State Highway 2 and Morrison St by the owner of the building who wanted to open a vape shop in the unused store.

New post boxes were obtained but they were installed in a recess which customers had to climb up makeshift steps into to access their mail.

The previous location of the post boxes. Photo / Supplied

This was not suitable for people with mobility issues and after several members of the community, including Iles and community board members Luke Ruiterman and Honey Thrupp, made complaints to New Zealand Post, it deemed them unacceptable.

Last week, New Zealand Post contractors resolved the issue by building a wall that was accessible from the footpath and covering the boxes with a shelter complete with guttering and downpipes.

Iles said it was “a favourable and speedy outcome” to the issue.

-Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air