Statistics New Zealand has conducted its three-yearly review of the goods and services that make up the Consumer Price Index (CPI) ‘basket’, adding a few new technologies now considered standard household items, and removing others seen as no longer relevant.

The CPI basket is a list of items that reflect typical household spending patterns. By tracking the price of each item, statisticians are able to provide a guide to the relative cost of living.

The new additions include tablet computers, external computer hard drives, and ebooks, reflecting the growing prevalence of these devices.

Equally telling are the new services, particularly the addition of delivery charges, which demonstrates the rise of online shopping.

No longer included are unflued gas heaters, dictionaries, and – perhaps most telling of all – envelopes.

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