NZ posties no longer 'wired' to snoop

NEW ZEALAND Post has abandoned a trail that would mean that if kiwis suddenly found themselves spammed by paint companies, they could blame their postman.

NZ Post created what amounted to a storm by wiring up their posties with wireless microphones to collect details on their customers as they do their rounds. In the end the PR storm was too windy and NZ Post pulled the scheme.

The pilot programme involved collecting details on the state of the paint on their customer's houses. The details, including the address of the badly painted house, will be passed to Resene Paints for use in a follow-up "your house needs painting - have we got a deal for you?" advertising campaign.

According to the Dominion Post, kiwi's everywhere are appalled at the apparent breach of trust. And so are human beings.

As one resident put it, posties know all about their customers from the mail they hand deliver, including who they bank with, any professional or business activity occurring at the address, fines and debt collection-type activity.

A NZ Post spokesPostie said that the trial was small and was designed to provide "innovative new ways to help our customers". The customer he meant was Resene.

He said that posties were already giving feedback to "councils" about potholes and dangerous dogs, who we assume don't want paint spam either.

He said that no names, only addresses, were passed on to Resene so the country's "Privacy Act" was not breached. Posties taking part had volunteered, he said. It also does not seem to breach New Zealand's "Privacy" law. µ

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