New Zealand Post / CourierPost – Eco Warriors or Evironmental Vandals?

Today I received a most enlightening pamphlet in my mail (twice).  Here is a small exercpt from it:

“Every Little Bit Counts…

At Courier Post, we’ve invested a lot of time and care into finding ways to sustain our environment and our business. We’ve made some big changes in recent years, but we’ve learnt that the little ones matter too – like the change we’re making in our bubble bag trackpacks (abridged for brevity). This results in saving 35.5 barrels of oil each year. For more information visit www.takingcare.co.nz“

Does this mean that if a little bit counts, a lot counts a lot more?

Fan Mail…

Above is a picture of the mail I received from NZ Post/Courierpost for ONE Trade Me business, on one business day.  There are:

• 2 Every little Bit Counts pamphlets
• 5 Envelopes I had to open (yes, poor me)
• 1 Tax invoice for $2.90
• One Statement of accounts from Courierpost
• Another Statement of Acconts from Courierpost (for a different amount)
• One Statement of Accounts from NZ Post
• 4 FreePost return envelopes – which I won’t be using as my account is paid by direct debit each month
• One more Statement of accounts from New Zealand Post with a fancy graph showing my 12 month spending trend by various payment methods with a note ‘thank you, no payment required this month’ – however a pre pay return envelope was included for my convenience.

16 bits of paper in total.  Out of all of this – only 5 bits of paper are needed for accounting purposes.  It is not uncommon for me to receive 5-6 envelopes from NZ Post per day with invoices for varying amounts starting at $2.90… Admittedly the “Every little bit counts” pamphlet is nicely printed on recycled paper (with environmentally friendly inks no doubt!) but do they need to send so much mail, individually?

Don’t get me started on the amount of mail received from the banks – even with online statements. So while I’m no environmental warrior, and this post is inspired by frustration for the amount of paper and mail I have to process, while saving oil, what about the trees? (and my rubbish bin??).

Having said this, I have no complaints whatsoever with either Courierpost or NZ post in the carriage of my business mail inwards or outwards – its the sheer volume of unnecessary paper received that is the topic of todays ‘gripe’.

Yes, I know, this is nearly as fascinating as a postage thread on the Trade Me message boards…..

Until next time -squeak squeak!

anelectricmouse

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