The post shop in Ponsonby (file image). Photo: Screenshot / Google Maps
NZ Post is closing 142 service counters in convenience stores, pharmacies and libraries around the country.
The state-owned company said 567 post shops would remain open nationwide and rural post shops would not be affected.
The closures follow an update to NZ Post's deed of understanding with the government, resetting minimum post shop requirements for the first time since the 1980s.
NZ Post general manager consumer Sarah Sandoval said a review showed increased demand for parcel services.
To find out what's happening in your area see the NZ Post website.
"A lot has changed since the 1980s, when our minimum store requirements were last set.
"Customers now rely far more on NZ Post stores for collecting and sending parcels compared to letters. The retail network needs to be rebalanced to better suit how people use our services today and into the future."
The remaining network stores would still be significantly larger than any New Zealand supermarket or bank branch network, she said.
"Ninety percent of Kiwis living in urban areas will still be within four kilometres of a New Zealand Post store."
The company planned to upgrade some of its remaining stores and roll out new retail hubs for sending, collecting and returning parcels.
Two of those hubs were already open in Auckland - in Newmarket and Hardinge Street - with further hubs planned for Christchurch and Palmerston North later this year.
Communities would be informed well ahead of any local changes and customers could check its website or in-store notices to find out how services would be accessed nearby, NZ Post said.
Postal Workers Union organiser John Maynard said the changes followed the removal of hundreds of roadside post boxes.
He told Midday Report that living within four kilometres of a post shop was not necessarily walking distance.
"There's all those practical, day-to-day [considerations] - getting there, walking there, parking there and all that sort of stuff. I think these hubs are quite good because you can do a lot of stuff there, but again this is NZ Post running down the access of the people and running down the services."
Stores losing their post counters would also lose foot traffic and inevitably employees, he said.
"I've had an example of one of these franchisees who is now going to lose the business. There are rest homes in the area and there are people who walk there. They're now going to have to go down into the city to do postal transactions, if they can find a carpark," he said.
"You go into those places and they've got specialised staff doing [postal services]. I don't know what's going to happen to those staff."
Maynard said he feared there would be more cuts to NZ Post services.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
