Which is the cheapest courier from Canada to Australia?

Which is the cheapest courier from Canada to Australia?

The cheapest courier from Canada to Australia ultimately may not be the best choice for your parcel, nor the fastest or most reliable. But whoever you choose, be prepared for expensive shipments. Beyond that, what and when you ship could have a big impact on the price of shipping, which this blog explores with some examples of shipping costs to Australia. As well, we describe the effects of peak season surcharges, and present Secureship – a Canadian shipping broker – that can help you find the courier that suits your budget and time constraints, and it will save you both time and money in the process. Not only that, but Secureship has heaps of help and information on offer to anyone with a computer.

Table of Contents

• Some Examples of Shipping Costs to Australia
• Peak Season Surcharges
• Secureship’s Offerings
• Conclusion

Some Examples of Shipping Costs to Australia

Let’s compare the costs of shipping two items from Vancouver, B.C. to Sydney, Australia – a documents only envelope and a small five kilogram parcel. Assuming they are shipped on a Monday in November, 2024, Secureship’s shipping calculator provides the results as shown below.

Envelope with documents				5 kg parcel
Delivery	Delivery time	Secureship’s Price	Courier’s Price	Delivery time	Secureship’s Price	Courier’s Price
Fastest (Purolator)	2 business days	$138 (CAD)	$163 CAD	2 business days	$550 CAD	$588 CAD
Cheapest (UPS)	4 business days	$52 (CAD)	$146 CAD	8 business days	$164 CAD	$470 CAD

Clearly, it can be quite expensive to courier documents and parcels from Canada to Australia, but equally illuminating from the chart is how much Secureship could save you on those costs – upwards of 65% in some cases.

Another way to mitigate the high costs of shipping to Australia from Canada is to opt for surface transport (sea freight); however, you pay for this in time. A parcel may not arrive for several months, which could be okay if time is less important than money.

Peak Season Surcharges

Carriers apply extra fees for oversized parcels, containers bigger or heavier than standard limits, residential delivery, and if additional handling is required.

Then, if your shipment travels during the Canadian peak season – from mid-September till mid-January – there will be surcharges on the extra fees. For example, FedEx’s surcharges for the 2024 peak season include:

• $50 CAD for oversized parcels (total charge: $152 CAD)
• $6 CAD for additional handling (total charge: $27 - 33 CAD)
• $450 CAD for an unauthorised package (total charge: $1,570 CAD)

And beyond the extra fees, there is the possibility that a parcel may be delayed during peak season because of the heavier volumes; as well, transportation networks often become snarled from November onwards due to early winter snow storms. So, if at all possible, ship early.

Secureship’s Offerings

Using Secureship to find the cheapest, fastest, or most convenient shipping option could save you or your firm substantial shipping costs as demonstrated above. But Secureship’s offers much more. Since its inception in 2007, Secureship has collected a mass of information available to anyone with a computer. Under its Support tab, you will find four choices: Help Centre, Learning Centre, Country Shipping Guides, and Blogs.

1. The Help Centre hosts our ShipGuru bot with answers to thousands of shipping questions; or you can tap in your question and have an answer within an hour.
2. In the Learning Centre, 16 ‘How to type’ articles present advice and information whether you are new to shipping or have years of experience.
3. The section with Country Shipping Guides is a store of country-specific files that outline the importation rules and regulations for 140 nations or territories.
4. And finally, we have a growing selection of blogs that explore common questions concerning five main countries (USA, England, Australia, New Zealand, and India) as well as a bunch of generic shipping topics.

Conclusion

The cheapest courier from Canada to Australia may not deliver your parcel within your required time frame or be with your favourite carrier, but no matter the cost, it is likely to be more expensive than you expect. As well, shipping has a peak season of nearly four months – from mid-September and into the new year – during which couriers apply surcharges to their basic rates. However, you can take advantage of year round savings when you arrange your shipments with Secureship, a long-time Canadian broker that can find you huge savings with Purolator, UPS, and FedEx. And not only that, Secureship offers a wealth of shipping information in the form of a bot, articles, country-specific shipping guides, and blogs similar to this one.