New Zealand postal addresses follow the same format as much of the English-speaking world. There are four kinds of address depending on the mode of delivery:

• street address, in which mail is delivered directly to homes by the 'postie';
• PO Box address, in which mail is delivered to a private box, usually at a 'Post Shop' (formerly Post Office) for collection;
• Private Bag, in which a private mail bag is delivered to an organisation such as a large company or a government department; and
• Rural Delivery, used in rural areas for home deliveries.

Post Code system for Volume Mail

New Zealand Post is unique in that while it has a post code system, this is used entirely for pre-sorting large volumes of mail in bulk, similar to the Mailsort system used by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom. Consequently, post codes are not usually seen in New Zealand addresses:

New Zealand Post
Private Bag 39 990
WELLINGTON

Individual items of mail need not include the post code in the address, as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) enables automated sorting machines to scan entire addresses, rather than just post codes, as is the case with older machines.

Until the early 1990s, all mail was sorted manually and the only post codes in use were postal zone numbers used in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. (A similar system is still used for Dublin postal districts in the Republic of Ireland.) These are no longer used, although they have been 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 the cities and large towns, the last two digits indicate the mode of delivery, as illustrated by addresses in Palmerston North:

Street address:

43 Vogel Street 
PALMERSTON NORTH 5301

PO Box address:

PO Box 4000
PALMERSTON NORTH 5315 

Private Bag address

Private Bag 11-222
PALMERSTON NORTH 5320

Rural Delivery address

Railway Road
R D 10
PALMERSTON NORTH 5321

Generally, each PO Box or Private Bag number range has its own post code, although there are often cases in which a post code may be used for several number ranges in the same city, for example, in South Auckland:

PO Box 51 000
PAKURANGA 1730

Private Bag 76-912
MANUKAU CITY 1730

PO Box 38 234
HOWICK 1730

NB: New Zealand Post recommends that a space is inserted between the letters 'P' and 'O' in 'PO Box' or 'R' and 'D' in 'RD'.

Maori Names

New Zealand Post recognises Maori names for cities and towns in New Zealand, for example, the Maori Language Commission's address is:

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori
Poutāpeta 411
TE WHANGANUI A TARA

In English, this translates as:

Māori Language Commission
PO Box 411
WELLINGTON

In spite of the considerable difference between the two languages, there is no need to add the post code, which in this case would be 6015.

Freepost

Mail to the New Zealand Parliament is delivered free of charge:

Rt Hon. Helen Clark MP
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON 

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

CARM
Freepost No. 112002
PO Box 913
DUNEDIN

External Link

• New Zealand Post