New England Online > Geography > Utilities & Services > Postal Services
Postal Services
Postal services in New England are handled by the Royal Post, which is a government owned monopoly and crown statutory agency. The Royal Post was established upon New England's independence on the 1 October 2012 and has the sole power to handle and distribute mail across the country. It does not produce stamps or own the post offices from which it operates.
Private courier companies like FedEx and UPS are allowed to distribute packages as part of their global network, but can only do so for international mail, and are forbidden to operate as a domestic carrier.
Organisation & Services
| Postal Codes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Code | |
| 1 | Apsleyshire | APSY |
| 2 | Clarence | CLNC |
| 3 | Fitzroyshire | FITZ |
| 4 | Greater Armidale | GARM |
| 5 | Guyrashire | GUYA |
| 6 | Gwydirshire | GWDR |
| 7 | Macintyre | MCTR |
| 8 | Macleay | MCLY |
| 9 | Macquarie | MCRE |
| 10 | Parkes | PARK |
| 11 | Raleighshire | RLGH |
| 12 | Severnshire | SVRN |
| 13 | Urallashire | URLA |
From an organisational perspective, the Royal Post is owned by the Postal Services Commission or PSC, and is part of the Ministry of Communications. The commission is responsible for all mail operations in New England. It manages the operation of post offices and designs stamps through the subsidiary bodies of the Post Office Trust and the Philatelic Commission.
The PSC is headed by a Commissioner, currently Kaleen Norman, and a board of three Commissioners for each of the subsidiary bodies the commission has responsibility for. The commission is a largely strategic body and has little role in the day to day management of the Royal Post, Post Office Trust or the Philatelic Commission.
The post provides a large number of mail services as would be expected from a modern provider. By law, mail services must be regular and time, with daily deliveries made to addresses throughout the country from Monday to Saturday. Sunday deliveries occur for businesses in Armidale, Coffs Harbour, Inverell and Port Macquarie, and for all addresses during the month of December.
For many years, New England did not have postcodes, which were abolished in 2014. The country was not considered large enough to justify the use of postcodes, given that the population in 2014 was under 750,000. Planning laws (which forbid the use of geographical name already used), combined with the use of a county as an locale identifier, has made it very easy to move mail around the country. Even as New England's population grew, the need for codes was not necessary until 2043, when county-wide postcodes were reintroduced.
Post Offices
As part of the redistribution of government assets through the Repatriations Commission, all of the former Australia Post offices and agencies were transferred to the Postal Services Commission on the 1st October 2012. The new authority also inherited the post boxes and delivery centres that were scattered all over New England. In 2033, these buildings were transferred to the Post Office Trust.
As part of the redevelopment of mail services, a number of post offices were built or renovated over the course of the first ten years of New England's independence. Post shops, which had become the trend in Australia in the twenty years leading up to independence, were abolished, and New England's post offices reverted to being simple mail sending and receiving facilities. Despite these changes, many of services that had drifted to the postal system were retained, and today the post office remains the central place in a town were utility bills are paid.
Stamps and Letters
While the Royal Post remains responsible for the universal mail collection, the responsibility for producing stamps rests with the Philatelic Commission. The use of stamps makes it possible to charge the same prices for mail no matter how remote the sender or recipient. The cost of posting a letter is determined by the weight, size and for overseas addresses, the location.
