Editing NZ Post (section)

=== Issue of stamps ===

NZ Post is responsible for deciding on stamp design and stamp production. From 1 April 1998 until 1 April 2003, only New Zealand Post was allowed to issue postage stamps that bear the words "New Zealand," according to New Zealand law.<ref>{{cite act |title=Postal Services Act 1998 |type=Act |number=1998 2 |date=18 March 1998 |url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0002/latest/whole.html |access-date=9 April 2017}}</ref> Each year the Post's stamp business unit sets how many stamps it will issue and what the stamps will depict. The Post considers suggestions from New Zealand citizens and people around the world when deciding the subject of stamps. It also works with organisations to create commemorative stamps. For example, in 2014, the Post collaborated with [[Air New Zealand]] to issue a stamp for the airline's 75th anniversary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/64004327/new-air-nz-stamp-ready-to-fly |title=New Air NZ stamp ready to fly |date=10 December 2014 |access-date=9 April 2017 |publisher=Stuff.co.nz}}</ref>

Once a decision on the stamp's subject is made, the Post asks at least two designers to draw a sketch, from which the final design is chosen. There are four things each stamp design must include: the stamp's denomination, the words New Zealand, a fern, one of the country's unofficial symbols, and a description of what the stamp depicts. Finally, the Post uses printers from around the world to print the stamps–it does not print them itself.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/kids/about-collecting/stamps/stamp-making-process |title=The stamp-making process |access-date=9 April 2017 |publisher=New Zealand Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/about-stamps-collecting/about-stamps/stamp-production |title=Stamp production |access-date=9 April 2017 |publisher=New Zealand Post}}</ref>

New Zealand's first stamp was issued by NZ Post's predecessor, the [[New Zealand Post Office|Post Office Department]] of the New Zealand government, in 1855. The stamp depicted [[Queen Victoria]], and was printed in one penny, two pence and one shilling denominations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/new-zealands-first-postage-stamps-go-on-sale |title=New Zealand's first postage stamps go on sale |publisher=New Zealand Government |access-date=5 April 2017}}</ref>