Postcodes in New Zealand

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In June 2006, New Zealand introduced a new postcode system, which, unlike the previous system, applies to all items of mail, from June 2008.

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 was the case with older machines. Until the early 1990s, all mail was sorted manually.

There are 1856 4-digit postcodes, each of which may serve up to 10000 individual locations. They start with 0 in Northland and progress southward, ending with codes starting with 9 in Otago and Southland.

The first two digits specify the area, the third digit specifies the type of delivery (street, PO Box, Private Bag, or Rural delivery), and the last digit specifies the specific lobby, RD (rural delivery) number, or suburb.

In October 2008, New Zealand Post launched a 'remember your postcode' campaign, offering a NZ$ 10 000 prize for remembering a postcode.^[1]

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

• Rural Delivery, used in rural areas for home deliveries.

Railway Road

RD 10

Palmerston North 4470

Suburbs

Under the new system, some suburbs in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch now either have their own postcode, or share one with fewer suburbs. For example, whereas the old postcode 1003 covered Epsom, Mount Eden, and Mount Albert, these suburbs now have separate postcodes from one another.

6 Ferryhill Road

Epsom

Auckland 1023

2 Avenham Walk

Mount Eden

Auckland 1024

3 Laurel Sreet

Mount Albert

Auckland 1025

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 PO Box number ranges in South Auckland, each now has its own postcode:

PO Box 51000

Pakuranga

Manukau 2140

Private Bag 76912

Manukau City

Manukau 2241

PO Box 38234

Howick

Manukau 2145

Repartition of postcodes

Here below is a table that - for each first postcode digit - indicates in which government regions the addresses are^[2]:

Previous system

Although postcodes were first introduced in New Zealand in 1977, these were used entirely for pre-sorting large volumes of mail in bulk,^[3] 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 39990

Wellington Mail Centre

Lower Hutt

Under the old system, 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

Post Office Box address:

P O Box 4000

Palmerston North 5315

Private Bag address

Private Bag 11222

Palmerston North 5320

Rural Delivery address

Railway Road

R D 10

Palmerston North 5321

NB: Prior to the changeover, New Zealand Post also required that a space was inserted between the letters 'P' and 'O' in 'PO Box' or 'R' and 'D' in 'RD'.^[4]

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.

Freepost

Mail to Members of the Parliament of New Zealand is delivered free of charge for individuals (organisations must pay regular rates). The cost is deducted from the Member's budget.

Rt Hon John Key

Prime Minister

Private Bag 18888

Parliament Buildings

Wellington 6160

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

Freepost 112002

CARM

PO Box 913

Dunedin 9054

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 alternative 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.

References

External links

• New Zealand Post
  • New Post Code finder
• NZ Post The $10,000 Question
• Old Post Code finder
• New Zealand adopts postcodes - article in The Times 1 June 2006
• New Zealand enters brave new world of postcodes - article on Nine Network website, 31 May 2006
• New Zealand Postcode Database - downloadable MySQL database of new NZ postcodes
• Postcode Perimeter Search for New Zealand