Courier companies in Pakistan: choosing one for a COD store
"Best courier in Pakistan" has no single answer, because the best courier for a store is the one that delivers the most of its parcels, to its cities, and pays it back fastest. Here is who the options are and how to measure them.
In short
- Most Pakistani online stores ship COD with one or more of: PostEx, Trax, TCS, Leopards (LCS), M&P, BlueEx, Call Courier.
- Headline freight rate is the least important number. Delivery rate, settlement speed and return charges move profit far more.
- Delivery rate varies by city as much as by courier — we measured a 7.5-point spread between two neighbouring cities.
- Measure your own couriers per city before you believe anyone's ranking, including this page.
The courier companies Pakistani online stores use
These are the carriers Pakistani stores most often ship cash-on-delivery with, and how each connects to Kaarobar. It is not a ranking — the right courier depends on your cities, which is what the next section is about.
Ship with a courier not on the list? Name it and Kaarobar adds it within 24 working hours. Parcels you ship with any courier are also picked up from your Shopify fulfilments, so they appear in Kaarobar either way.
The four numbers that decide the best courier for you
- Delivery rate — per city. The share of parcels actually delivered. Across the stores we measure, 27.5% of COD parcels came back overall, and delivery ranged from 76.5% in Islamabad to 69.0% in Rawalpindi. A courier that is best in Karachi can be worst in Quetta.
- Days to settle. How long from delivery to money in your account. We measured a median of 2 days but a 90th percentile of 8 — the tail is where your working capital gets stuck.
- Return charges. A refused parcel costs forward freight and return freight. A cheaper forward rate with an expensive return leg can cost more overall.
- Freight rate. Last, not first. A few rupees per parcel matter less than a few points of delivery rate on every parcel.
The arithmetic behind that ordering is in what a returned parcel really costs.
How to compare couriers honestly
- Count only finished parcels. Parcels still in transit make every courier look worse than it is; compare delivered versus returned only.
- Compare city by city. Two couriers with the same national rate can have very different results in your top five cities.
- Use enough parcels. Twenty parcels to one city is noise. Wait for a few hundred before switching.
- Watch the same period. Eid, sales and weather move every courier at once; compare them over the same weeks.
Kaarobar's courier scorecard does exactly this on your own orders, per courier and per city, and can suggest which courier to book each order with.
Using more than one courier
Many stores end up with two: one for the cities where it delivers best, and a second for the rest. That only works if booking both is no harder than booking one — which is why Kaarobar books PostEx and Trax from the same order screen, and reconciles both couriers' payments the same way.
Compare your couriers on your own orders — install freeAbout the author: Hamza Khalid is the founder of Remap Media, which builds Kaarobar. He built Mydrobe.pk, a cash-on-delivery fashion store on Shopify, in 2020 and runs Cellwala.pk. He has spent 10+ years in performance marketing on Meta, Google and TikTok for brands in Pakistan, the UAE, Qatar and the US. More about Hamza
Questions merchants actually ask
- Which is the best courier company in Pakistan for COD?
- There is no single best one. The best courier for a store is the one with the highest delivery rate in that store's cities, the fastest settlement, and fair return charges — and those vary by city. Measure delivered versus returned per courier and per city on your own finished parcels before switching.
- Which courier companies offer cash on delivery in Pakistan?
- Most national couriers offer COD for online stores, including PostEx, Trax, TCS, Leopards (LCS), M&P, BlueEx and Call Courier. Terms differ — especially how fast they remit the collected cash and what they charge on returns.
- Is the cheapest courier in Pakistan the best choice?
- Rarely. A lower freight rate saves a few rupees per parcel, while a few points of delivery rate change whether every refused parcel costs you freight twice. Compare delivery rate and return charges before price.