Price of a stamp also going up in New Zealand

The United States isn't the only country raising the price of mailing a letter.

The New Zealand Herald reports the price of a stamp for a standard domestic letter is to rise to 50c at the beginning of June. The increase is the first since April 2004 when the price rose from 40c to 45c.

The paper quotes NZ Post's mail chief Peter Fenton as saying growth in the number of addresses to which it delivers and higher labour costs had made the increases necessary.

Even at 50 cents it cost less to send a standard letter in New Zealand than in Australia, Britain, Canada and most of the other countries, Fenton said.

By comparison, Australia's standard postage rate was the equivalent of 56 cents in New Zealand currency, Britain's was 65 cents; Canada's 66 cents; Ireland's 89 cents; Germany's $1.02; and Norway's $1.49.

Coverted to US dollars, 50 cents in New Zealand currency equals approximately 36 cents. [Editor's Note: 1 NZD = 0.718345 USD according to the XE.com currency conversion Web site.]

The article also mentions that last month NZ Post chief executive John Allen said the volume of domestic letters handled by his company was falling at the fastest rate in six years.

They must have e-mail there too, huh?

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