Musings from the shores of Lake Taupo

Retired at Last

We are now 11 days in. From an abstract concept retirement is now a reality for us. It has been sad to close down our business but the removal of stress has been amazing. Circular distribution is a sunset industry and it uses yesterdays technology. Placing fliers and catalogues into mail boxes is labour intensive and as minimum wage has increased over the years has made competing with radio and TV increasingly hard. Low pay rates in the industry make recruitment difficult. I believe the industry will disappear in the next few years. NZ Post is struggling through lack of letters and is managing due to a huge increase in parcel deliveries brought about by online shopping. This ushers in other concerns like the high carbon footprint with all the vans delivering parcels. In our small street there are an average of eight courier van drop offs daily. Soon letters will only be delivered twice a week. In addition to fliers free to the mail box Community newspapers are under pressure. Recruitment difficulties because of low pay mean many suburban runs are classed as empty runs. Advertisers are becoming increasingly angry. There seems no solution for the industry apart from, like the old soldier, to simply fade away. Meanwhile our retirement beckons and who knows what adventures await? My wife and I wish everyone here a Merry Xmas and a great 2024. God bless you all.