Understanding postal services and shipping rates in France involves knowing the tariffs handled by the national postal company, La Poste. Postal rates differ depending on the type of service, the destination and the weight, whether you are sending a standard letter throughout Paris, packing a letter for tracking for any official legal document you may have to send, or even a parcel to an international destination.
Domestic Letter Categories and Tariffs
Domestic mail comes in a variety of types to suit a range of different urgency and budgets. For all standard letters not exceeding 2 kg, in metropolitan France, the Lettre Verte is the eco-friendly mail service, delivered in three working days. The e-Lettre Rouge also enables the sender to digitally submit documents online or by a post office kiosk for on-the-spot printing and next day delivery. In the meantime, Lettre Services Plus delivers integrated tracking, sends your insurance and has two day delivery, plus easy pick up from your personal mailbox.
- Lettre Verte (Standard 3-Day): Costs €1.52 for items up to 20g, €3.10 for up to 100g, €5.24 for up to 250g, and €11.14 for up to 2kg.
- e-Lettre Rouge (Urgent 1 Day): €1.60 up to 6 pages, optional colour (+€0.50) and tracking (+€0.50).
- Lettre Services Plus (Tracked 2-Day): Costs €3.47 for up to 20g, €4.57 for up to 100g, and €12.01 for packages up to 2kg.
Mail tracked, registered.
For legal contracts, administrative notices or high value documents, basic letter postage may not be enough when sending them. Senders use tracked mail (Lettre Suivie) or legal registered mail (Lettre Recommandée).
The Lettre Verte Suivie is a green stamp rate that is coupled with an online tracking system that is offered step by step and for an additional fee. Registered mail offers evidence of deposit, evidence that the mail was signed for by the recipient and legal indemnity in the event of loss or damage. There are 3 levels of registered mail compensation: Tier R1 (50c) begins at €6.11 per 20g letter, Tier R2 (200c) begins at €7.29 and Tier R3 (400c) begins at €8.97. There is an extra €1.45 for adding a Physical paper Acknowledgement of Receipt (Avis de Réception).
Domestic Colissimo Parcel Rates
La Poste has its best parcel service, called Colissimo, for packages that are more than 2 kg or larger than the flat letter acceptable size (thicker than 3 cm). Colissimo packages are delivered to the door of your residence within 48 hours in Metropolitan France with all the tracking needed to monitor your package from start to finish.
A standard 250g package costs €5.49 for doorstep delivery, while a 500g package costs €7.59, a 1 kg package costs €9.59, a 2 kg package costs €11.19, and a 5 kg package costs €17.39. There is a €0.70 discount for senders who opt for a pick-up point, which can be either a local partner merchant, a pick-up automated locker or a post office counter, for parcels under 5 kg.
International mail and parcels shipping
The value of standard letters and postcards sent from country to country is indicated by a single collective priority scale that is valid for every country. The rates are: up to 20 grams is €2.25, up to 100 grams is €4.85 and up to 250 grams is €11.65.
The pricing for international parcels sent via Colissimo is divided into three main regions: Zone A – European Union countries, Switzerland and Great Britain; Zone B – non-EU Eastern European countries, Norway, Northern Africa; Zone C – the rest of the world including the USA and Canada, Asia and Latin America.
- Zone A (EU, UK, Switzerland): Rates range from €14.99 for 500g parcels, €19.39 for 1kg, and €28.59 for 5kg shipments.
- Zone B (Non-EU Europe & North Africa): Rates range from €23.79 for 500g parcels, €28.39 for 1kg, and €39.89 for 5kg shipments.
- Zone C (Worldwide & Americas): Rates range from €35.19 for 500g parcels, €39.19 for 1kg, and €78.69 for 5kg shipments.
How to Save Money on Shipping in France
Shippers should make use of La Poste official web page (Mon Timbre en Ligne) to buy postage labels online as this is often a way to benefit from reduced postal rates for web purchases. In addition, by buying multi pack envelopes that are pre-addressed to Colissimo, you can save on the volume, and if you use private relay services such as Mondial Relay, you can save 30% – 50% in the peer to peer parcel shipping costs compared to the traditional post office counters. Last but not least, making the document packages no more than 3cm thick will mean that the sender can benefit from lower letter rate instead of higher parcel rates.