The same change, the second time

Change happens all the time, but it’s a little unusual to go through the exact same change twice. But that’s what’s about to happen to us. It’s like déjà vu all over again.

Back in July 2015, I wrote about how our postal delivery was about to change from six days a week to only three. It was something we knew was coming, but the change, when announced, was swift.

There was a little confusion over days at the very beginning, and it took a few weeks to resist the temptation to check the mailbox on days when there was no mail (newspapers and flyers went into a separate compartment), but it was a relatively painless switch, not the least because we just don’t get much mail anymore. Urgent mail and courier deliveries aren't affected.

When we moved to our current house in February, 2017, we found out that mail was still delivered six days a week, and I admit I was surprised: I thought all of Auckland had already changed. It was easy to slot back into checking the mailbox every day—far easier than I might have expected, but I suppose it was a lifetime experience up until 2015.

This week we got the inevitable flyer in our mailbox (above, left). “As New Zealanders do more online,” it began, and I already knew where it was heading. It continued, “they're sending fewer letters and more emails. Today our Posties deliver half the number of letters they used to.” I think everybody knew mail delivery volume was decreasing.

The flyer continued:

So, to make sure NZ Post is here for the long haul, we're changing the way we deliver mail around New Zealand.

We've already made changes to delivery days in larger towns and cities around New Zealand, and we're introducing them in smaller towns over the coming months.

Over the coming weeks, we'll begin delivering mail on Monday, Wednesday and Friday or on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in your town.

This flyer had the same thing I didn’t like about the first time we got such a flyer, back in 2015, namely, they don’t specify either when the change begins or what our specific days will be. For some people, this change is a very big deal, and NZ Post owes them the courtesy of being more forthcoming.

However, NZ Post didn’t feel it was necessary to be forthcoming with the information, so, as I did in 2015, I decided to look it up on the NZ Post website, but there was no link to make that easy. I scratched around awhile and finally worked out that if I used the “Address and Postcode Finder” and entered our address it would tell me the delivery days. Our new days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I still have no idea when the new schedule starts.

So, we’re once again going through the same process we did more than three years ago. I can’t remember that ever happening before. There really is a first time for everything, including a second time for the same thing.

Previously:
Change has been delivered (July 2015) – when the changes were made for our previous house
Soon with real snails (October 2013) – when the changes were announced
Postage due (January 2013) – when the changes were first mooted