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85-500: NZ Post ( Māori : Tukurau Aotearoa ), shortened from New Zealand Post , is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office , a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunications services in New Zealand until 1987. By the 1980s, however, economic difficulties made the government reconsider how it delivered postal services. For example, in 1987–1988,

170-537: A Boeing 737-300 and two Fokker 27 planes, which were replaced by three Boeing 737–400 , with mail carried in containers. An 20 hp (15 kW) 12 mph (19 km/h)12mph Albion petrol lorry began carrying mail between Wellington post office and the wharf from early in September 1909. Another arrived in 1911. By 1973 the Post Office had 1,600 Bedford J trucks . In 2004 New Zealand Post announced

255-579: A gold franc (0.163 SDR ) per kilogram. Also since 1969, it announces the annual best postal services on 9 October, the World Post Day . Once terminal dues had been established, they became a topic of discussion at every future Postal Union Congress. The 1974 Congress tripled the terminal dues to 1.5 gold francs, and the 1979 Congress tripled them again to 4.5 gold francs. The 1984 Congress increased terminal dues by another 45%. The system of terminal dues also created new winners and losers. Since

340-713: A 100 percent stake in Localist Limited, a local directory and social media site focusing initially on the Auckland region. This holding was sold in 2014 in a management buyout led by the then CEO, Christine Domecq. One of the ways New Zealand Post is trying to make up for lost revenue due to fewer people sending letters is partnering with other companies. The Post on 3 April 2017 announced that it will work with fast food restaurant chain KFC to have postal drivers deliver KFC's food to customers. The partnership will be piloted in

425-529: A Franco-German compromise to allow self-declared terminal dues of up to 70% of the domestic postage rate and increase the UPU terminal dues by 119–164%, phasing in both changes from 2021 to 2025. In addition, countries receiving more than 75,000 tonnes of mail—currently only the United States—could opt in to accelerated self-declared terminal dues on 1 July 2020 in return for an $ 8 million annual "contribution" to

510-610: A day. By 2022 there were 415 of them. In 2022 a Hyundai Xcient hydrogen-powered truck was introduced. In 2022 NZ Post acquired Fliway Group one of New Zealands largest transport and logistics providers. On 12 October 2022, NZ Post opened a new over 10,000 square metres "Super Depot" in Wellington capable of automatically sorting 11,000 parcels per hour which was previously done by hand. The new automated sorting system uses optical character recognition (OCR) capable of reading hand writing as well as barcode scanning to determine where

595-715: A lower rate to developing countries. In 2010, the United States was a net sender because it was mailing goods to other countries. That year, the United States Postal Service made a $ 275 million surplus on international mail. In addition, the UPU system was only available to state-run postal services. Low terminal dues gave the United States Postal Service an advantage over private postal services such as DHL and FedEx . To protect its profits on sending international mail,

680-636: A net deficit on international mail for the first time. The deficits increased to $ 80 million in 2017. The UPU established a new remuneration system in 2016, a move that the United States Department of State said would "dramatically improv[e] USPS's cost coverage for the delivery of ... packets from China and other developing countries." However, the Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission disagreed. With

765-661: A postal operator is compulsory for letters with postage less than 80 cents. Despite the Act, government regulation of the company still requires it to maintain certain minimum service levels, such as frequency of delivery. New Zealand Post's exclusive right to be the 'sole operator' under the Act for the purposes of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) expired on 1 April 2003. For practical purposes, this meant another postal operator could theoretically issue stamps identified simply as 'New Zealand' with UPU membership. At around

850-713: A postal treaty in July 1874, just three months before the Universal Postal Union made the treaty unnecessary. An exasperated Washburne complained, "There is no nation in the world more difficult to make treaties with than France." Faced with such difficulties in exchanging mail with Europe, the United States had already taken the lead in calling for improvements to international mail arrangements. United States Postmaster General Montgomery Blair called for an International Postal Congress in 1863. Meeting in Paris,

935-545: A presence in New Zealand, Australia and Asia. New Zealand Post also owned 35% of IT firm Datacom Group until December 2012. New Zealand Post also ran the Electoral Enrolment Centre as a business unit under contract to the Ministry of Justice. Its function was to compile and maintain all electoral rolls for parliamentary and local government elections. On 6 July 2010, New Zealand Post registered

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1020-661: A public objective. For that reason, SOEs primarily operate in the domain of infrastructure (e.g., railway companies), strategic goods and services (e.g., postal services, arms manufacturing and procurement), natural resources and energy (e.g., nuclear facilities, alternative energy delivery), politically sensitive business, broadcasting, banking, demerit goods (e.g., alcoholic beverages ), and merit goods (healthcare). SOEs can also help foster industries that are "considered economically desirable and that would otherwise not be developed through private investments". When nascent or 'infant' industries have difficulty getting investments from

1105-495: A regular enterprise, state-owned enterprises are typically expected to be less efficient due to political interference, but unlike profit-driven enterprises they are more likely to focus on government objectives. In Eastern Europe and Western Europe , there was a massive nationalization throughout the 20th century, especially after World War II . In the Eastern Bloc , countries adopted very similar policies and models to

1190-754: A single UPU member, as are the entire British overseas territories . These members were originally listed separately as "Colonies, Protectorates, etc." in the Universal Postal Convention and they were grandfathered in when membership was restricted to sovereign states. Palestine is an observer state in the UN, and it was granted special observer status to the UPU in 1999. In 2008 Israel agreed for Palestine's mail to be routed through Jordan, although this had not been implemented as of November 2012. Palestine began receiving direct mail in 2016. In November 2018, Palestine signed papers of accession to

1275-466: A sketch, from which the final design is chosen. There are four things each stamp design must include: the stamp's denomination, the words New Zealand, a fern, one of the country's unofficial symbols, and a description of what the stamp depicts. Finally, the Post uses printers from around the world to print the stamps–it does not print them itself. New Zealand's first stamp was issued by NZ Post's predecessor,

1360-817: A uniform postal rate and equal treatment between domestic and foreign mail. The organization adopted its current name in 1878. It operated independently before being incorporated into the UN in 1948. The UPU contains four bodies: the Congress, the Council of Administration (CA), the Postal Operations Council (POC) and the International Bureau (IB). It also oversees the Telematics and Express Mail Service (EMS) cooperatives, which provide international express mail delivery. Pursuant to

1445-493: A week, but in 2013 the company outlined a plan to reduce this to three, in the wake of falling mail volumes. Prime Minister John Key backed the idea, saying people "genuinely understand that the world is changing". NZ Post is legally obligated to maintain a certain service level under a deed of understanding it signed with the New Zealand Government following the post's corporatisation in 1987. According to

1530-610: Is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations and facilitates a uniform worldwide postal system . It has 192 member states and is headquartered in Bern , Switzerland. Established in 1874 as the General Postal Union , the UPU is among the oldest extant intergovernmental organizations . It sought to standardize international mail delivery by establishing

1615-562: Is a viable argument for SOEs is debated. SOEs are also frequently employed in areas where the government wants to levy user fees , but finds it politically difficult to introduce new taxation. Next, SOEs can be used to improve efficiency of public service delivery or as a step towards (partial) privatization or hybridization. SOEs can also be a means to alleviate fiscal stress, as SOEs may not count towards states' budgets. Compared to government bureaucracy, state owned enterprises might be beneficial because they reduce politicians' influence over

1700-520: Is also spending $ 170 million to establish new processing centres in Auckland , Wellington , and Christchurch . In late June 2023, NZ Post chief executive David Walsh announced plans to lay off 750 jobs over the next five years due to declining mail volume. Total annual mail volume had declined from over 1 billion items in 2003 to around 220 million items in 2023. In late March 2024, NZ post confirmed it would proceed with plans to lay off 750 workers over

1785-764: Is approximately 70% of total employment. State-owned enterprises are thus a major factor behind Belarus's high employment rate and a source of stable employment. In most OPEC countries, the governments own the oil companies operating on their soil. A notable example is the Saudi Arabian national oil company , Saudi Aramco , which the Saudi government bought in 1988, changing its name from Arabian American Oil Company to Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The Saudi government also owns and operates Saudi Arabian Airlines , and owns 70% of SABIC as well as many other companies. China's state-owned enterprises are owned and managed by

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1870-557: Is highlighted in the predominant local terminology, with SOEs in Canada referred to as a " Crown corporation ", and in New Zealand as a " Crown entity ". The term " government-linked company " (GLC) is sometimes used, for example in Malaysia , to refer to private or public (listed on a stock exchange) corporate entities in which the government acquires a stake using a holding company . The two main definitions of GLCs are dependent on

1955-489: Is unclear whether municipally owned corporations and enterprises held by regional public bodies are considered state-owned). Next, it is contestable under what circumstances a SOE qualifies as "owned" by a state (SOEs can be fully owned or partially owned; it is difficult to determine categorically what level of state ownership would qualify an entity to be considered as state-owned since governments can also own regular stock , without implying any special interference). Finally,

2040-673: The Austro-German Postal Union . Negotiations for postal treaties could drag on for years. The United States drafted a postal treaty with France in 1852, but the two countries disagreed on how to divide the inland postage, and a treaty was not signed until 1857. However, the treaty was allowed to expire. Elihu Washburne , the new US Minister to France , arrived in Paris in 1869 to find "the singular spectacle ... of no postal arrangements between two countries connected by so many business and social relations." The United States and France finally exchanged ratifications of

2125-494: The Post Office Department of the New Zealand government, in 1855. The stamp depicted Queen Victoria , and was printed in one penny, two pence and one shilling denominations. Government-owned corporation The terminology around the term state-owned enterprise is murky. All three words in the term are challenged and subject to interpretation. First, it is debatable what the term "state" implies (e.g., it

2210-715: The State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) . China's state-owned enterprises generally own and operate public services, resource extraction or defense. As of 2017 , China has more SOEs than any other country, and the most SOEs among large national companies. China's SOEs perform functions such as: contributing to central and local governments revenues through dividends and taxes, supporting urban employment, keeping key input prices low, channeling capital towards targeted industries and technologies, supporting sub-national redistribution to poorer interior and western provinces, and aiding

2295-519: The Lange Government declared its plan to fully privatise the post. To prepare for privatisation, it decided to gradually reduce NZ Post's monopoly. When it was corporatised in 1987, New Zealand Post had a monopoly for mail up to 500 grams and NZ$ 1.75 value. This was first reduced to $ 1.35, then $ 1, and finally 80 cents. The government also let NZ Post downsize by closing a third of its locations. In 1991–1992, another review came out in support of

2380-703: The Mason-Morris review's recommendations, and passed through parliament the State-Owned Enterprises Act, which corporatised several government agencies into state-owned enterprises. The Post Office's corporatisation was then completed with the 1987 passage of the Postal Services Act. The two acts broke up the New Zealand Post Office into three corporations: the postal service firm New Zealand Post Limited,

2465-882: The Minister of Finance II, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, the Chief Secretary to the Government, Secretary General of Treasury and the heads of each of the GLICs (the Employees Provident Fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad , Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (the armed forces pension fund), Lembaga Tabung Haji and Permodalan Nasional Berhad . Khazanah Nasional Berhad provided

2550-726: The UPU are the Vatican City and every UN member except Andorra, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. These four states have their mail delivered through another UPU member (France and Spain for Andorra, and the United States for the Compact of Free Association states). The overseas constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten ) are represented as

2635-614: The UPU does not allow direct deliveries. The Universal Postal Congress is the most important body of the UPU. The main purpose of the quadrennial Congress is to examine proposals to amend the acts of the UPU, including the UPU Constitution, General Regulations, Convention and Postal Payment Services Agreement. The Congress also serves as a forum for participating member countries to discuss a broad range of issues impacting international postal services, such as market trends, regulation and other strategic issues. The first UPU Congress

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2720-541: The UPU for five years. Trump adviser Peter Navarro declared that the agreement "more than achieved the President's goal," but he denied that the United States was "buying" the deal with its "contribution". UPU Director Siva Somasundram hailed the agreement as "a landmark decision for multilateralism and the Union." The UPU's Standards Board develops and maintains a growing number of international standards to improve

2805-472: The UPU in one year and self-declare the rates it charged to other postal services. The Universal Postal Union responded in May 2019 by calling, for only the third time in its history, an Extraordinary Congress for 24–26 September 2019. The members voted down a proposal submitted by the United States and Canada, which would have allowed immediate self-declaration of terminal dues. The UPU then unanimously passed

2890-499: The UPU introduced a system of terminal dues. When two countries had imbalanced mail flows, the country that sent more mail would have to pay a fee to the country that received more mail. The amount was based on the difference in the weight of mail sent and received. Since the Executive Council had been unable to come up with a cost-based compensation scheme after five years of study, terminal dues were set arbitrarily at half

2975-599: The UPU's documents and publications—including its flagship magazine, Union Postale —are available in the United Nations' six official languages : French, English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Toward the end of the 19th century, the UPU issued rules concerning stamp design, intended to ensure maximum efficiency in handling international mail. One rule specified that stamp values be given in numerals, as denominations written out in letters were not universally comprehensible. Another required member nations to use

3060-425: The UPU's mission, each member state agrees to the same terms for conducting international postal duties. Before the establishment of the UPU, every pair of countries that exchanged mail had to negotiate a postal treaty with each other. In the absence of a treaty providing for direct delivery of letters, mail had to be forwarded through an intermediate country. Postal arrangements were complex and overlapping. In 1853,

3145-445: The UPU. However, its bid for membership was defeated in September 2019 by a vote of 56 in support, 23 abstaining, 7 countries in opposition, and 106 countries not responding to the request to vote (which, according to UPU rules, led them to be tallied as abstentions)—leaving the bid substantially short of the required two-thirds majority of UPU members. States with limited recognition must route their mail through third parties, since

3230-1019: The USSR. Governments in Western Europe, both left and right of centre, saw state intervention as necessary to rebuild economies shattered by war. Government control over natural monopolies like industry was the norm. Typical sectors included telephones , electric power , fossil fuels , iron ore , railways , airlines , media , postal services , banks , and water . Many large industrial corporations were also nationalized or created as government corporations, including, among many others: British Steel Corporation , Equinor , and Águas de Portugal . A state-run enterprise may operate differently from an ordinary limited liability corporation. For example, in Finland, state-run enterprises ( liikelaitos ) are governed by separate laws. Even though responsible for their own finances, they cannot be declared bankrupt ;

3315-441: The United States had a postal treaty with Prussia , but some states in southern Germany were sending their US-bound mail through France instead. Since there was no postal treaty between the United States and France, the mail had to travel on a British or a Belgian ship. US Postmaster-General James Campbell doubted "whether ... the arrangement can be safely continued," but he saw hope in a postal treaty with Bremen that also covered

3400-544: The United States voted with the developing countries to keep terminal dues low. They were opposed by the German Post and the Norwegian Post , which wanted to increase terminal dues. However, the low terminal dues backfired on the United States due to shifts in mail flows. With the growth of e-commerce , the United States began to import more goods through the mail. In 2015, the United States Postal Service made

3485-428: The agreement, last amended in 2013, New Zealand Post has to operate at least 880 service points where basic postal services are available, and within this network 240 so-called “Personal Assistance Service Points,” where additional postal services, such as priority or parcel services, are available. As of 30 June 2016, New Zealand Post maintained 987 service points, 511 which were personal assistance service points. In all,

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3570-497: The bank Kiwibank Limited in the majority of its PostShop and Books and More (now Take Note) branches. Kiwibank is wholly owned by New Zealand Post through subsidiaries. In 2002 NZ Post bought The ECN Group which is now New Zealand Post's corporate venturing arm. Its purpose is to develop and market technologies and services that may replace or enhance New Zealand Post's traditional services. The ECN Group focuses on B2B messaging, business process management and systems integration, with

3655-477: The delegates agreed to all of von Stephan's proposals. The Treaty of Bern was signed on 9 October 1874, establishing what was then known as the General Postal Union . The treaty provided that: One important result of the Treaty was that it was no longer necessary to affix postage stamps of countries that a mailpiece passed through in transit. The UPU provides that stamps from member nations are accepted along

3740-696: The delegates laid down some general principles for postal cooperation but failed to come to an agreement. The German victory in the Franco-Prussian War cleared away the obstacles to a postal union. After defeating Napoleon III in 1870, the North German Confederation and the South German states united to form the German Empire . The German Reichspost established a uniform set of postage rates and regulations for

3825-501: The entire international route. The Treaty of Bern had been signed by 21 countries, 19 of which were European. After the General Postal Union was established, its membership grew rapidly as other countries joined. At the second Postal Union Congress in 1878, it was renamed the Universal Postal Union. French was the sole official language of the UPU until English was added as a working language in 1994. The majority of

3910-510: The exchange of postal-related information between postal operators. It also promotes the compatibility of UPU and international postal initiatives. The organization works closely with postal handling organizations, customers, suppliers and other partners, including various international organizations. The Standards Board ensures that coherent regulations are developed in areas such as electronic data interchange (EDI), mail encoding, postal forms and meters. UPU standards are drafted in accordance with

3995-507: The form of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The Malaysian government launched a GLC Transformation Programme for its linked companies and linked investment companies ("GLICs") on 29 July 2005, aiming over a ten-year period to transform these businesses "into high-performing entities". The Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance ("PCG"), which oversaw this programme, was chaired by the Prime Minister , and membership included

4080-680: The formation of Express Couriers Ltd (ECL), a 50:50 joint venture with courier company DHL . In 2008 New Zealand Post and DHL commenced a similar joint venture in Australia called Parcel Direct Group Pty Limited (PDG). In 2012 New Zealand Post purchased DHL's holdings in these two companies. ECL operates extensive courier and logistics services throughout New Zealand and encompasses the CourierPost, Pace, RoadStar and Contract Logistics brands. From 2016 electric Paxters were introduced for local deliveries. On average they use 8.4 kWh (30 MJ)

4165-478: The frequency of mail deliveries in both urban and rural areas; gradually reducing the number of postal outlets from 880 to 400; establishing cluster and community boxes for new addresses; converting existing delivery points to community points at a rate of 5% per year; and reducing the review period from five to three years. The Postal Worker's Union president John Maynard expressed concerns about NZ Post's proposal to stop delivering to individual mail boxes. Early mail

4250-585: The government's privatisation plan. However, by the end of 1993 the government abandoned its plan because of public opposition. New Zealand Post began its life with 1,244 post offices, later rebranded as PostShops , of which 906 were full post offices and 338 were postal agencies. On 5 February 1988, 581 post offices or bank branches were downsized or closed, after government subsidies expired. As of March 1998, there were 297 PostShops and 705 Post Centres. However, there are now more outlets than before corporatisation, with 2,945 other retailers of postage stamps. There

4335-440: The intermediate postal service to bear the costs of transport to the final destination. Remailing was banned in 1924, but the UPU took no action on imbalanced flows until 1969. The problem of imbalanced flows became acute after decolonization , as dozens of former European colonies entered the UPU as independent states. The developing countries received more mail than they sent, so they wanted to be paid for delivery. In 1969,

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4420-412: The leading application of the incomplete contract theory to the issue of state-owned enterprises. These authors compare a situation in which the government is in control of a firm to a situation in which a private manager is in control. The manager can invest to come up with cost-reducing and quality-enhancing innovations. The government and the manager bargain over the implementation of the innovations. If

4505-597: The monopoly of New Zealand Post to a limit of $ 1.75 and 500 grams. It was gradually reduced to 80 cents in December 1991 until the 1998 legislation took effect. The Postal Services Act 1998 , passed by a National-New Zealand First coalition government, repealed the 1987 Act. The new law provides for any person to become a registered postal operator by applying to the Ministry of Economic Development (now Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment ). Registration as

4590-592: The negotiations fail, the owner can decide about the implementation. It turns out that when cost-reducing innovations do not harm quality significantly, then private firms are to be preferred. Yet, when cost-reductions may strongly reduce quality, state-owned enterprises are superior. Hoppe and Schmitz (2010) have extended this theory in order to allow for a richer set of governance structures, including different forms of public-private partnerships . SOEs are common with natural monopolies , because they allow capturing economies of scale while they can simultaneously achieve

4675-532: The new country, but the uniformity ended at the German border. Different amounts of postage were required to mail a letter from Berlin to New York, depending on which ship carried the letter across the Atlantic Ocean. To bring order to the system of international mail, German Postmaster-General Heinrich von Stephan called for another International Postal Congress in 1874. Meeting in Bern , Switzerland,

4760-428: The next five years due to declining mail volume. In early April 2024, NZ Post confirmed that it would stop delivering newspapers and parcels to rural addresses on Saturdays from 29 June 2024, with the exception of 17 rural delivery runs that would be phased out by June 2025. In early November 2024, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) proposed five changes to NZ Post's services including reducing

4845-424: The northern city of Tauranga , then expanded to more locations across New Zealand. On the 24 June 2021, New Zealand Post announced a new logo and rebranding to unite their NZ Post, Pace and CourierPost brands into one brand in order to reduce confusion among customers. This rebranding exercise costs NZ$ 15 million and will take place over a period of three years; focusing on the repainting of courier vans. The company

4930-551: The number one player in the express courier market. In 1999 New Zealand Post launched a 50:50 joint operation with Blue Star. The new brand – Books and More – combined bookshop operations with the more traditional PostShop services. After acquiring 100% of the company in 2004 (by this stage the other 50% had been owned by WH Smith , owner of Whitcoulls bookshops) the entire operation was eventually sold to Paper Plus in 2005 and by 2006 all had been re-branded as Take Note. In 2002 New Zealand Post, as part of government policy, opened

5015-587: The originating country to keep all of the postage revenue, without compensating the destination country for delivery. The idea was that each letter would generate a reply, so the postal flows would be in balance. However, other classes of mail had imbalanced flows. In 1906, the Italian postal service was delivering 325,000 periodicals mailed from other countries to Italy, while Italian publishers were mailing no periodicals to other countries. The system also encouraged countries to remail through another country, forcing

5100-472: The outbreak of the China–United States trade war in 2018, the issue of terminal dues was pushed into the forefront. Americans complained that mailing a package from China to the United States cost less than mailing the same package within the United States. At the time, the UPU's Postal Development Indicator scale was used to classify countries into four groups from richest to poorest. The United States

5185-432: The package should go. The sorting technology was designed and produced in partnership with Daifuku Oceania . NZ Post is responsible for deciding on stamp design and stamp production. From 1 April 1998 until 1 April 2003, only New Zealand Post was allowed to issue postage stamps that bear the words "New Zealand," according to New Zealand law. Each year the Post's stamp business unit sets how many stamps it will issue and what

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5270-431: The post operated 882 retail locations in mid-2016. The standard of signature/non-signature parcel delivery services, varies with their customers sometimes left a mailbox card instructing them to pick up parcels from the nearest NZ Post Depot or if a small address discrepancy/address damage is discovered, the parcel is invariably returned to the sender, usually with no efforts directed toward telephoning, emailing or looking up

5355-510: The postal division lost NZ$ 50 million. In 1985, the Labour Party government under Prime Minister David Lange launched a review, led by New Zealand Motor Corporation CEO Roy Mason and KPMG New Zealand Chairman Michael Morris, to find solutions to the Post Office's problems. In its final report, the team recommended transforming the New Zealand Post Office into three state-owned enterprises . The government in 1986 decided to follow

5440-399: The private sector (perhaps because the good that is being produced requires very risky investments, when patenting is difficult, or when spillover effects exist), the government can help these industries get on the market with positive economic effects. However, the government cannot necessarily predict which industries would qualify as such 'infant industries', and so the extent to which this

5525-428: The proportion of the corporate entity a government owns. One definition purports that a company is classified as a GLC if a government owns an effective controlling interest (more than 50%), while the second definition suggests that any corporate entity that has a government as a shareholder is a GLC. The act of turning a part of government bureaucracy into a SOE is called corporatization . In economic theory ,

5610-451: The question of whether a firm should be owned by the state or by the private sector is studied in the theory of incomplete contracts developed by Oliver Hart and his co-authors. In a world in which complete contracts were feasible, ownership would not matter because the same incentive structure that prevails under one ownership structure could be replicated under the other ownership structure. Hart, Shleifer, and Vishny (1997) have developed

5695-485: The recipient in a directory, whist more effort is prioritised into delivering miss-addressed letters. In 1989 New Zealand Post established CourierPost, a nationwide courier company designed to protect the company's parcel business from private competition. In 1991 it purchased Speedlink Parcels , formerly run by the New Zealand Railways when it was sold during privatisation. By 1998 CourierPost had become

5780-634: The rules given in Part V of the "General information on UPU Standards" and are published by the UPU International Bureau in accordance with Part VII of that publication. All United Nations member states are allowed to become members of the UPU. A non-member state of the United Nations may also become a member if two-thirds of the UPU member countries approve its request. The UPU currently has 192 members (190 states and two joint memberships of dependent territories groups). Member states of

5865-603: The same colors on their stamps issued for post cards (green), normal letters (red) and international mail (blue), a system that remained in use for several decades. After the foundation of the United Nations, the UPU became a specialized agency of the UN in 1948. It is currently the third oldest intergovernmental organization after the Rhine Commission and the International Telecommunication Union . The 1874 treaty provided for

5950-413: The same time, New Zealand Post adopted a fern-shaped identifying mark on its postage stamps, to be used on the majority of its future issues. As of 2024, New Zealand Post is one of three mail delivery providers in New Zealand to issue stamps, the others being its primary postal competitor DX Mail and the significantly smaller Whitestone Post. Since 1998 NZ Post has been legally obliged to deliver six days

6035-424: The savings bank Post Office Bank Limited, later rebranded as PostBank , and the telecommunications company Telecom New Zealand Limited . Today, only NZ Post remains a state-owned enterprise, as PostBank and Telecom were privatised in 1989 and 1990, respectively. In its first year of operation, New Zealand Post turned the losses of previous years into a NZ$ 72 million profit. A year after the 1987 Post Office Act,

6120-556: The secretariat to the PCG and managed the implementation of the programme, which was completed in 2015. As of 2024, Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is the most profitable state-owned enterprise in the Philippines. It is the third largest contributor to government revenues, following taxes and customs. Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union ( UPU , French: Union postale universelle )

6205-469: The service. Conversely, they might be detrimental because they reduce oversight and increase transaction costs (such as monitoring costs, i.e., it is more difficult and costly to govern and regulate an autonomous SOE than it is the public bureaucracy). Evidence suggests that existing SOEs are typically more efficient than government bureaucracy, but that this benefit diminishes as services get more technical and have less overt public objectives. Compared to

6290-425: The stamps will depict. The Post considers suggestions from New Zealand citizens and people around the world when deciding the subject of stamps. It also works with organisations to create commemorative stamps. For example, in 2014, the Post collaborated with Air New Zealand to issue a stamp for the airline's 75th anniversary. Once a decision on the stamp's subject is made, the Post asks at least two designers to draw

6375-465: The state answers for the liabilities. Stocks of the corporation are not sold and loans have to be government-approved, as they are government liabilities. State-owned enterprises are a major component of the economy of Belarus . The Belarusian state-owned economy includes enterprises that are fully state-owned, as well as others which are joint-stock companies with partial ownership by the state. Employment in state-owned or state-controlled enterprises

6460-497: The state's response to natural disasters, financial crises and social instability. China's SOEs are at the forefront of global seaport-building, and most new ports constructed by them are done within the auspices of the Belt and Road Initiative . As of at least 2024, an Ethiopian SOE is Africa's largest and most profitable airline, as well as Ethiopia's largest earner of foreign exchange. In India , government enterprises exist in

6545-462: The system of terminal dues. In 1988 a per-item charge was included in terminal dues to drive up the cost of remailing, an old scourge that had returned. To resolve the problem with periodicals, the UPU adopted a "threshold" system in 1991 that set separate letter and periodical rates for countries which receive at least 150 tonnes of mail annually. The 1999 Postal Congress established "country-specific" terminal dues for industrialized countries, offering

6630-657: The term "enterprise" is challenged, as it implies statutes in private law which may not always be present, and so the term "corporations" is frequently used instead. Thus, SOEs are known under many other terms: state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, government-owned company, government controlled company, government controlled enterprise, government-owned corporation, government-sponsored enterprise , commercial government agency, state-privatised industry public sector undertaking, or parastatal, among others. In some Commonwealth realms , ownership by The Crown

6715-498: The terminal dues were fixed, low-cost countries that were net recipients would turn a profit on delivering international mail. Developing countries were low-cost recipients, but so were developed countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Since the dues were payable based on weight, periodicals would be assessed much higher terminal dues than letters. The continuing fiscal imbalances required repeated changes to

6800-415: Was a Group I country, while China was a Group III country, alongside countries like Mexico and Turkey that had similar GDP per capita . As a result, China paid lower terminal dues than the United States. The Presidency of Donald Trump complained that it was "being forced to heavily subsidize small parcels coming into our country." On 17 October 2018, the United States announced that it would withdraw from

6885-545: Was a reduction in the "real" price of postage, with a nominal drop of the standard letter postage rate from 45 cents to 40 cents in 1996, and restoration of the 45 cent rate in 2004. Since then the cost has risen to 50 cents in 2007, to 60 cents in 2010, to 70 cents in 2012, to 80 cents in 2014, to $ 1 in 2016, to $ 1.20 in 2018, to $ 1.30 in 2019, to $ 1.40 in 2020, to $ 1.50 in 2021, to $ 1.70 in 2022, to $ 2.00 in 2023 and $ 2.30 in 2024, amidst significant declines in mail volumes. The Lange government 's Postal Services Act 1987 reduced

6970-529: Was an International Telegraph Bureau, based in Bern, akin to the UPU. The International Telecommunication Union currently facilitates international electronic communication. In order to integrate postal services and the Internet, the UPU sponsors .post . Developing their own standards, the UPU expects to unveil a whole new range of international digital postal services, including e-post . They have appointed

7055-512: Was carried on foot and by ship. By 1875, of 330 mail routes, 83 used carts, or coaches. From 1878 post was carried in travelling post offices on New Zealand Railways , with sorting being done on the train. The last train ran on 5 September 1971, after which the Silver Star train took over Auckland-Wellington services. Air transport was first used in 1919 and regular carriage by internal airlines began on 16 March 1936. Until 2016 NZ Post had

7140-609: Was held in Bern, Switzerland in 1874. Delegates from 22 countries participated. UPU Congresses are held every four years and delegates often receive special philatelic albums produced by member countries covering the period since the previous Congress. The Universal Postal Union, in conjunction with the World Association for the Development of Philately , developed the WADP Numbering System (WNS). It

7225-423: Was launched on 1 January 2002. The website displays entries for 160 countries and issuing postal entities, with over 25,000 stamps registered since 2002. Many of them have images, which generally remain copyrighted by the issuing country, but the UPU and WADP permit them to be downloaded. In some countries, telegraph and later telephones came under the same government department as the postal system. Similarly there

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