A business courier service sells three things a private sender does not get: a rate negotiated off a published band, a scheduled collection instead of a per-item fee, and an account instead of a card payment each time. Only the first is money, and it is measured against figures that are published and knowable: Evri's 0-1kg Small at £3.04, its 1-2kg Small at £3.52, and Royal Mail's Tracked 48 Small Parcel at £3.65 online.
Know the band before you hear the discount
A percentage off a band your orders do not use is worth nothing, and it is the most common way a small business overpays while believing it has negotiated well. Weigh and measure a representative sample of what you actually send, count how many fall in each published band, and take that to the conversation. It is an afternoon's work and it is the only preparation that reliably changes the outcome.
Where a scheduled collection starts to pay
A per-item collection fee is published by exactly one company in this record, Royal Mail at 30p an item on online Tracked 24 and Tracked 48. A scheduled daily collection replaces that with a fixed arrangement, which is worth having above a handful of parcels a day and is pure overhead below it. Between those, dropping off at a shop remains cheaper than either.
What an account does not change
The carriage. A business rate buys the same network, the same transit times and the same compensation limits as a consumer one; what changes is the price and the administration. Anything sold as a service-level difference should be specific enough to test, and if it is not, treat it as a rate conversation with better adjectives.
The international half
A business sending abroad is running a second operation with different economics: Parcel2Go publishes £7.79 to Germany and £11.59 to the USA on its own destination pages, against £3.04 domestically. Duty and import VAT sit on top of both, and who absorbs them is a pricing decision. For a shop, getting that wrong costs more than any carrier negotiation will save.
Questions people ask about small business courier services
What do small business courier services cost?
They are discounted off published bands. Evri publishes 0-1kg Small at £3.04 and 1-2kg Small at £3.52; Royal Mail publishes a Tracked 48 Small Parcel at £3.65 online. Read on 10 September 2026.
Is a business courier account worth it?
Above a handful of parcels a day, usually, mostly for the scheduled collection. Below that, dropping off at a shop on published online prices is cheaper than either an account or a collection fee.
Does a business rate buy a better service?
Not usually. It buys the same network at a different price with different administration. Any claimed service difference should be specific enough to test.
What about sending abroad as a business?
Different economics entirely: £7.79 to Germany and £11.59 to the USA on Parcel2Go's own pages against £3.04 domestically, with duty and import VAT on top and a decision to make about who absorbs them.