New Zealand Cutting Back Mail Service

Mail delivery by the New Zealand Post will drop to three days a week in urban areas by 2015

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Just cutting Saturday mail delivery was enough to stoke anger in the United States, but in New Zealand, post service is about to get cut in half.

The New Zealand government agreed Wednesday to cut the six-day-a-week postal service down to five days in rural areas and just three days in cities by 2015, the Associated Press reports. Mail volume has dropped by a quarter in the last decade, and New Zealand Post officials said the decline seems to be accelerating. New Zealand Post CEO Brian Roche said that those wanting daily delivery can sign up for a premium courier-type service.

Mail volumes have dropped in many countries. The U.S. Postal Service lost $15 billion last year, and in the U.K., the government privatized the 500-year-old Royal Mail, but continued service six days a week.

[AP]