Heavy parcel delivery: what a heavy parcel courier costs, and where the weight ladder starts

What the companies publish for this

How to price a heavy parcel without guessing

1. Weigh it packed, on scales you trust. Every band here is the packed weight. Bathroom scales with and without the parcel are accurate enough to tell which band you are in, which is all you need.
2. Find the step, not the rate. Evri's ladder is nearly flat from 2kg to 10kg, £6.59 to £6.68, and then jumps by more than three pounds. Knowing where a carrier's step is worth more than knowing its headline.
3. Check the ceiling before the price. Royal Mail's heaviest published parcel is 20kg, as a Medium Parcel, and Evri's published table stops at 15kg. Parcelforce publishes to 30kg. Above the ceiling you are buying a different product.
4. Then ask whether it is still a parcel. Past roughly 30kg the answer is usually a pallet, which is priced per pallet rather than per kilo and is a different set of companies.

The two published ladders, side by side

Evri and Parcelforce are the only two companies in this record that publish anything above five kilos, and they cross over. At 5kg Evri publishes £6.68 against Parcelforce's £11.95. At 10kg it is £6.68 against £14.20. Evri's table then stops at 15kg with £10.28 while Parcelforce keeps going to 30kg at £21.40.

Royal Mail sits between them without joining either ladder. Its Medium Parcel takes up to 20kg at one price, £6.25 online on 2nd Class, which on paper is the cheapest heavy option in the record; the catch is the dimension, because a Medium Parcel must also fit inside 61cm x 46cm x 46cm, and most 20kg items do not.

Why heavy and large are priced apart

A heavy parcel has failed a weight limit; a large parcel has failed a dimension. Carriers price them separately because the costs are different: weight is a vehicle-loading problem and volume is a space problem, and the same lorry runs out of one long before the other.

Chargeable weight is where the two meet. Above the flat bands most carriers charge on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight, so a light bulky box can be billed as a heavy one. If your parcel is both, expect the volume to decide it.

What a heavy parcel needs beyond a price

Collection stops being optional. A 20kg box is not going to a ParcelShop in most people's arms, and collection is priced separately by every company here; Royal Mail publishes it as 30p an item on Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 bought online, which is the only collection fee anyone in this record prints.

Cover matters more too, because heavy items are usually the expensive ones. The free compensation limit on the cheap end of every grid is well under what a 20kg parcel is typically worth, and extra cover is not in any published headline figure.

Questions people ask about this

How much does it cost to send a heavy parcel?

On published figures, Evri prices 5-10kg at £6.68 and 10-15kg at £10.28, and Parcelforce prices up to 10kg at £14.20, up to 20kg at £17.95 and up to 30kg at £21.40. Royal Mail's Medium Parcel takes up to 20kg from £6.25 online if it also fits 61cm x 46cm x 46cm. Read 10 September 2026.

What is the heaviest parcel I can send?

In this record, 30kg, which is the top of Parcelforce's published ladder. Royal Mail publishes to 20kg and Evri's table stops at 15kg. Above 30kg the trade prices by pallet instead.

Is a 25kg parcel cheaper than two 15kg parcels?

Not usually on the published ladders. Parcelforce publishes £17.95 for up to 20kg and £21.40 for up to 30kg, while two Evri 10-15kg parcels come to £20.56, so it is close enough that the bands decide it rather than any rule of thumb.

Do I have to pay for collection of a heavy parcel?

Every company here charges for it separately, and only Royal Mail publishes what it charges: 30p per item on Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 bought online.

Sending this abroad

• Australia: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Bahrain: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Belgium: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Brazil: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Bulgaria: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Canada: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• China: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Croatia: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Cyprus: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• the Czech Republic: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Egypt: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• France: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Germany: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Greece: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Guernsey: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Hong Kong: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Hungary: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• India: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Ireland: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• the Isle of Man: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Italy: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Japan: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Jersey: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Kenya: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Libya: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Lithuania: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Malaysia: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Malta: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Mauritius: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Montenegro: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• the Netherlands: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• New Zealand: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Northern Ireland: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Norway: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Pakistan: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Poland: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Portugal: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Qatar: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Romania: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Saudi Arabia: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Singapore: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• South Africa: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• South Korea: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Spain: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Thailand: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• the UAE: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• the USA: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages
• Vietnam: what carriers publish for a parcel, from their own price pages