How Purolator shipping rates work

What sets a Purolator rate

Purolator’s rate guide lists the inputs: the postal code you ship from, the weight of the shipment, its packaging, how soon it has to arrive and the destination postal code. Working out a list rate takes four steps:

1. Find the zone code for the destination in the Purolator zone guide for your origin postal code.
2. Choose the service, from Purolator Ground to the morning Express options.
3. Add up the weight and round it up to the next whole pound, so 15.1 lb becomes 16 lb.
4. Read the rate where the zone meets the weight.

Surcharges and options are added after that. Purolator’s current courier rate guide dates from September 1, 2025, and business accounts can get discounts off those published rates. For Purolator’s own figure, its estimate tool prices a shipment from your postal codes.

Service level

How soon the parcel has to arrive is the first choice. These are the Purolator services in ProtonShip quotes, slowest first:

• Purolator Ground: one or more business days by 9 pm, depending on the route.
• Purolator Express: next business day by 9 pm to most points.
• Purolator Express 10:30 AM: next business day by 10:30 am, to select points, mainly major cities.
• Purolator Express 9 AM: next business day by 9:00 am, to select points, mainly major cities.

Express can also cost more for the same box because of how Purolator measures it. Express parcels may fly, and by air Purolator uses a heavier cube factor, explained below. Purolator sells further options, such as Express 12PM and evening delivery, to shippers using an automated shipping system.

Distance and zones

Distance enters a Purolator rate as a zone. The zone guide is published per origin postal code, and the rate guide has 16 zones within Canada, from D01 to D16. The zone depends on the pair of postal codes, so one origin has different zones for nearby and distant destinations. Points that Purolator considers remote, or doesn’t serve directly, add a Beyond Point charge on top of the zone rate.

Billable weight and the cube factor

Purolator doesn’t publish a divisor. It uses a cube factor, a set weight per cubic foot, and bills the dimensional weight whenever it’s greater than the scale weight. Since July 19, 2026 it rounds each side up to the next whole inch before working it out, and the weight up to the next whole pound.

Purolator doesn’t publish which routes fly, and its invoice may say when the air factor was used. ProtonShip quotes apply the air rules to every Express parcel, so the quote never assumes the lighter factor.

Take a box of 18 × 14 × 10 in weighing 6 lb. Its dimensional weight by ground is about 18.1 lb, so Purolator Ground bills it at 19 lb. By air it works out to about 21.9 lb, billed at 22 lb. Try your own box in the dimensional weight calculator, and see how to measure a package for the measuring itself.

Purolator takes pieces up to 150 lb, but anything over 70 lb has to be arranged in advance as a Heavyweight shipment. ProtonShip doesn’t sell Heavyweight, so Purolator labels from us go up to 70 lb.

Homes, remote points and special handling

The other charges Purolator lists, by what triggers them:

• Residential: a delivery to an area Purolator considers mainly residential, or of low business density. Purolator’s terms call it Residential Area and its rate guide Residential Delivery.
• Beyond Point: an origin or destination Purolator considers remote or doesn’t serve directly. Purolator doesn’t publish the amount or the list of points.
• Special handling: a piece that can’t run on Purolator’s conveyors. Oversized means over 50 lb or a side over 48 in. A Large Package measures over 130 in, up to 165 in, in length plus girth, and bills at 90 lb or more. Additional Handling covers boxes that aren’t fully enclosed and irregular or cylindrical shapes. A Flat or Soft Package is longer than 18 in with its shortest side 2 in or less, or a soft pack longer than 18 in. Only the highest special handling charge applies to a piece.
• Peak surcharge: during its peak period around the holidays, Purolator adds a further charge to pieces that need special handling.
• Corrections: an address that’s wrong, incomplete or unreadable, a change of delivery address in transit and a second delivery attempt each carry a charge.

A piece over 150 lb, over 165 in in length plus girth or longer than 108 in is over Purolator’s maximum limit, and Purolator can refuse it.

Fuel surcharge

Purolator sets its courier fuel surcharge monthly from a four-week average of diesel prices reported by Natural Resources Canada. A new rate takes effect on the first Monday of each month and is posted on purolator.com about two weeks before. It applies to the service rate plus specialized services and surcharges, and not to taxes.

Signature and declared value

Deliveries to businesses are signed for at no extra charge. A home delivery goes without a signature unless the shipper asks for one, and then Purolator applies its residential signature charge instead of the residential charge. Purolator also sells adult signature, for parcels where the receiver has to show proof of age.

Purolator’s liability is limited unless a value is declared on the shipment. Declaring a value above the amount Purolator includes adds a surcharge based on that value. In a ProtonShip quote, you enter the goods’ value as the coverage value and each rate includes the carrier’s charge for covering it. Coverage and claims explains how a claim is paid.

When the price changes after shipping

Purolator’s terms let it reweigh and re-measure any parcel and adjust the charges, whatever was declared on the label. A box that measures bigger or weighs more at the depot bills at Purolator’s figures, and an address it has to correct adds its own charge. With ProtonShip, a charge like that is posted to the shipment with the carrier’s reason, and its figures when it reports them, before it’s charged. How carrier adjustments work has the steps and the dispute window.

How ProtonShip prices a Purolator label

You pay per label, with no Purolator account, and every label includes the carrier’s basic coverage. The price in your quote already includes fuel and the surcharges known at booking: home delivery, remote areas and peak season where they apply, a signature if you ask for one, and the coverage charge when you enter a value. Signed-out quotes show prices by speed; sign in to see which carrier runs each one.

A Purolator shipping quote on its own tells you one carrier’s price. A ProtonShip quote prices Purolator next to three other carriers for the same box and route, each with its delivery date, so you can see whether Purolator is the one to buy. Pricing explains what the quoted price covers.

Questions about Purolator rates