Parcel surcharges

A parcel's price is a base rate for the service and the weight, plus a set of supplements, each with its own trigger.

Fuel

A percentage added to the transport charge and revised on a published schedule, monthly or weekly depending on the network. On many services it is applied to the accessorial charges as well as to the base rate, so a parcel with a remote-area fee pays fuel on that fee too. In France, indexing road transport prices to fuel is required by the transport code, so the fuel line is part of the price rather than a negotiating point; the index and the formula can be agreed, in writing.

Remote and extended areas

Islands, mountain areas and some rural postcodes cost more to reach, and networks charge for them per parcel or per kilogram with a minimum. Each carrier publishes its own postcode list, and the lists differ, which is why the same address can be cheaper on one network than on another. Territories inside the EU that sit outside its VAT or customs area, such as the Canary Islands, carry customs costs as well, as Addresses by country explains.

Residential delivery

Some express services charge extra for a home address rather than a business one; many standard parcel services do not. It matters when a lane mixes business and consumer deliveries on an express product.

Additional handling and large parcels

A parcel that is heavy, long, or not in a cardboard box (a tube, a bag, a wrapped item) is handled by hand and charged for it. Past a second size threshold it becomes a large parcel with a bigger supplement, and past a third the network refuses it. Volumetric weight covers the size rules.

The base rate is usually right. The supplements are where the invoice moves.

Peak season

Around Black Friday and the end of the year, many networks add a per-parcel or per-kilogram supplement for a set period, and some cap the volume they accept from each shipper. The dates and amounts are announced each autumn, so they belong in the plan for the fourth quarter.

Address corrections and failed deliveries

A wrong or incomplete address costs a correction fee when the carrier fixes it, and a return-to-sender charge when it cannot. Both are avoidable at the point the label is printed, which is where Failed deliveries picks up.

Duties, taxes and disbursement fees

On parcels crossing a customs border, the carrier advances the duty and the import VAT and charges a fee for doing so, either to the recipient or back to the shipper under a delivered-duty-paid arrangement. Since 1 July 2026 low-value consignments into the EU also pay a 3 euro duty per customs declaration line, and the border guide covers the rest.

Surcharges on your invoice

On our rates in France and the UK, every surcharge appears at the carrier's price with zero markup, as its own line, against the parcel that caused it. Nothing is folded into a blended rate. The invoice audit reads each line against the parcels shipped and the terms you accepted, and flags surcharges that do not apply, duplicates and corrections that do not match the parcel, with the dispute prepared for your approval. On your own contracts, the audit reads your carrier's invoice the same way.