Dear John,
Thank you for your request for information under the Official Information
Act. We will respond to your request within 20 working days.
Kind regards,
OIA Officer
NZ Post

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From: John Sanders <[FOI #17157 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 12 October 2021 10:13 AM
To: Oia Officer <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - United States Postal Service
(USPS) Service Suspension to New Zealand
 
Dear New Zealand Post Limited,

The United States Postal Service (USPS) suspended from 1 Oct 21 most mail
services from the US to New Zealand.

This OIA request seeks all documents and correspondence between USPS (or
another entity representing itself on behalf of, or in addition to, USPS)
and NZ Post related to this decision, including but not limited to:
-Emails
-Briefings
-Presentations
-Meeting minutes

Yours faithfully,

John Sanders

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Hi John

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act. Your request relates to all documents and correspondence between USPS (or another entity representing itself on behalf of, or in addition to, USPS) and NZ Post related to the decision to suspend mail services from the US to New Zealand from 1 October 2021.

It is important to note it is a USPS to NZ Post embargo for two reasons; first, that is the direction of the flows embargoed, and second because the USPS have been very clear that it is a designated operator (national postal administration) decision, not a UPU member country decision, i.e. the USPS made an operational business decision on the matter rather than the US Department of State as the government agency responsible for postal policy.

The first suggestion of a partial postal embargo was made by the USPS during a fortnightly information sharing video-conference call between international designated operators discussing issues arising due to and/or in response to the challenges arising from the COVID-19 global pandemic. It is important to note too that the proposed USPS embargo affected up to 23 destination countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island countries, it was not limited solely to New Zealand. We are unable to share the minutes of this call due to commercial sensitivities.

NZ Post learnt of the actual decision after it was made. We had no role in the decision and since then we have reached out to the USPS in an attempt to find possible solutions that will see the embargo lifted. To date, we have not been successful but NZ Post continues to work with the USPS to find a solution.

If you have concerns over our decision to withhold commercially sensitive information, you may complain to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Kind regards,

OIA Officer
NZ Post

This email with any attachment is confidential and may be subject to legal privilege.
If it is not intended for you please reply immediately, destroy it and do not copy, disclose or use it in any way.

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