[1] This replaced a previous system, introduced in 1977, in which New Zealand Post did not require individual items of mail to include the postcode in the address.
Optical character recognition (OCR) enabled automated sorting machines to scan entire addresses, rather than just postcodes, as was the case with older machines.
In cities and large towns, the last two digits indicate one of the four modes of delivery, as illustrated by addresses in Palmerston North: Although postcodes were first introduced in New Zealand in 1977,[4] these were used entirely for pre-sorting large volumes of mail in bulk,[5][6] similar to the Mailsort system used by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom.
New Zealand Post recognises Māori names for cities and towns in New Zealand; for example, the Māori Language Commission's address is: In English, this translates as: In spite of the considerable difference between the two languages, there was no need to add the postcode under the old system, which in this case would have been 6015.
Mail to members of the New Zealand Parliament is delivered free of charge for individuals (organisations must pay regular rates).