Using Universal Mail might mean a long wait.

Universal Mail sells attractive stamps showing New Zealand tourist spots – you buy them at tourist destinations and information centres. The stamps cost $1.50 each and mail bearing them must be posted in blue Universal Mail post boxes.

But if you use these stamps there might be a long wait before your postcard or letter is delivered. A member told us he posted letters with stamps bought at Auckland Zoo to Brisbane and Sydney. The letter to Brisbane, posted in a Universal Mail box, took several weeks to arrive. The letter to Sydney has not been delivered or returned to the sender (but it was posted in a New Zealand Post mailbox).

Our checks

We sent five postcards using Universal Mail, one each from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hokitika and Taupo, to addresses in the UK, Australia, and North America. Universal Mail doesn’t give target delivery times, so we compared them with New Zealand Post targets.

New Zealand Post’s target delivery time for sending a postcard to North America or Europe by its International Air service is 6 to 10 working days. Our Universal Mail postcards to the US and Canada took 16 and 18 working days to arrive. The postcard to London reached its destination in 10 days.

The postcard to Australia from Auckland took 16 working days, well outside New Zealand Post’s target of 3 to 6 working days. And a postcard to a second address in the UK, sent in early March, still hadn’t arrived two months later.

What went wrong?

Universal Mail told us that DHL Global Mail, the company that carries its international mail, had experienced problems at an international hub where mail had been stockpiled and not delivered. Mail between early January and the end of March had been affected. Universal Mail is monitoring transit times to ensure the problem doesn’t occur again.

We say

• Universal Mail clearly has had problems with its deliveries. Later this year we’ll check them again.
• Delivery times will be shorter if you use the blue Universal Mail boxes. New Zealand Post forwards mail incorrectly posted in its mailboxes to Universal Mail’s office in Auckland for delivery.
• If you want faster delivery times you can use New Zealand Post’s International Air Service with a target delivery time of 6 to 10 working days to North America and Europe. You’ll have to pay $2 for a standard letter, the same as for Universal Mail, but a postcard or aerogram only costs $1.50.
• Finally, as our member pointed out, long delivery times – or non-delivery – are not a good look for our tourist industry.

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