Duncan Snelling says aerogrammes are a part of New Zealand history and it is a tragedy they are being discontinued. Photo: Supplied
A man who has been using aerogrammes for about 60 years says he is gutted New Zealand Post is ditching them.
An aerogramme is a single lightweight sheet of paper that is folded to form its own envelope and can be sent via airmail at a lower rate than a conventional letter.
Duncan Snelling, 70, was born in New Zealand, but grew up in England, before later returning.
He said since about the age of 10 he had been writing aerogrammes to friends and family.
But a recent visit to his local post office revealed they were down to their last two packets.
A spokesperson for NZ Post said: "NZ Post still accepts aerogrammes, but we stopped producing them about two years ago due to very low usage. Prior to ceasing production, we had not received any orders for about two years, and in the 12 months prior to that we received only 58 orders. Customers may still be able to buy aerogrammes in some of our stores until stocks eventually run out."
Duncan Snelling areogramme Photo: Supplied
Snelling said aerogrammes were part of the New Zealand history and it was a tragedy they were being discontinued.
"I've made a habit of actually typing letters mostly every morning to friends and family all around the world, and it's a lovely discipline because you have to write or, as I do, type a letter in a page and a third, and so you have to write everything you want to say and sort of sum it up."
He said getting a letter in the post was very different to getting an email. He said letters were something that could be relished and retained as keepsakes.
"I was just handed a whole tranche of letters. I had aerogrammes I had written to my late aunt in Taupō, and through it I've been able to discover things I've completely forgotten about my life; it's a real treasure."
But with people still able to post a letter in an envelope, some may be wondering what the fuss is about.
Snelling said a letter was more expensive and required more time than dashing off an aerogramme.
The current price of sending an aerogramme overseas is $3.30, while for most countries a letter of the same size is $4.
Ralph Sims got his job acceptance letter in an aerogramme. Photo: Supplied
For Ralph Sims, an aerogramme is what brought him to New Zealand.
He was working at a University in the UK when he received an aerogramme informing him he had been accepted for a job at Massey University.
He said he had been with Massey University for 52 years, "ever since getting the aerogramme".
Sims, 76, said he could understand why NZ Post was no longer offering aerogrammes, but that it was the end of an era
"There's something special about getting a handwritten letter through the mailbox. It's a rare occasion nowadays, so it's even more special."
Sims said one of the most impressive aerogrammes he got was from his mother who was in the UK.
"I used to live in the rural district one of Palmerston North, and she addressed this on SIMS RD1 PN NZ and it arrived four days later from the UK."
Author Joe Bennett said aerogrammes were a lifeline when he lived overseas at a time when phone calls were expensive and there was no internet.
"I came to associate the colours of the aerogramme and of airmail in general - the red and white sort of piping around the outside - with friendship."
Bennett recalled returning to a flat he had left the month before to check if there was any mail.
He found about a dozen letters and aerogrammes and immediately started to read them.
Walking home, he said he was "knocked down by a taxi because I was so engrossed, in reading what my friends had written".
Bennett said aerogrammes were now outdated and he was surprised they were not done away with sooner.
Grey Power vice president David Marshall said cutbacks and increased pricing from NZ Post was always a concern.
"It affects our more vulnerable members, particularly those who are not as digitally active as others, because they're so dependent on the post as a way of communication."
