How to ship tires in Canada

How carriers treat tires

• Canada Post names a tire as an example of an unpackaged item, which carries a surcharge.
• UPS adds its Additional Handling charge to anything not fully encased in corrugated cardboard, and to cylindrical items.
• FedEx does the same for packages that aren’t fully encased, or are round or cylindrical.
• Purolator adds Additional Handling for cylindrical or irregular items. It carries unpackaged articles at the shipper’s risk and pays no claims on them.
• UniUni doesn’t publish size limits, and says it’s optimized for packages of 10 lb or less.

Wrapping or boxing a tire

Most tires ship wrapped rather than boxed. Clean and dry the tire, wrap it in heavy plastic or a tire bag, and tape it tight so nothing flaps. Stick the label to a smooth, taped part of the tread where it lies flat.

Size and billable weight

Continental’s CrossContact ATR in size 225/65R17 is 28.5 in across, 9 in wide and 25 lb. Carriers round each side up to the next inch, so it measures 29 × 29 × 9 in:

Carrier	Billed as	Fits
Canada PostRegular Parcel	45.6 lbSize sets it (÷ 166)	Fits
Canada PostOther services	54.5 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
UniUni	Limits and divisor not published. A quote asks UniUni directly.
PurolatorGround	54.5 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
PurolatorExpress	65.8 lbSize sets it (÷ 115)	Fits
UPSStandard	54.5 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
UPSExpress	65.8 lbSize sets it (÷ 115)	Fits
FedExGround	54.5 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
FedExExpress	54.5 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits

It fits every published limit, and its length plus girth is exactly 105 in, right on the line where UPS and FedEx start charging for size. A wider or taller tire crosses it. At 25 lb, the tire bills at about 46 lb at Canada Post Regular Parcel, 55 lb at most ground services and 66 lb at UPS air services or Purolator Express.

Light-truck and larger tires

Bigger tires cross several lines at once. BFGoodrich’s All-Terrain T/A KO2 in size LT285/70R17 is about 32.8 in across, 11.5 in wide and 50 lb, as Tiresize lists it. Rounded up, that’s 33 × 33 × 12 in and 51 lb:

Carrier	Billed as	Fits
Canada PostRegular Parcel	78.7 lbSize sets it (÷ 166)	Length + girth over 118 in
Canada PostOther services	94 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Length + girth over 118 in
UniUni	Limits and divisor not published. A quote asks UniUni directly.
PurolatorGround	94 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
PurolatorExpress	113.6 lbSize sets it (÷ 115)	Fits
UPSStandard	94 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
UPSExpress	113.6 lbSize sets it (÷ 115)	Fits
FedExGround	94 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits
FedExExpress	94 lbSize sets it (÷ 139)	Fits

At 123 in length plus girth, it’s over Canada Post’s 118 in. The other carriers take it, with extra handling on several counts: over 105 in length plus girth and 30 in on the second side at UPS and FedEx, and over 50 lb at UPS and Purolator. It bills at about 94 lb at most ground services, almost twice its weight.

Shipping a set of four

Each tire is its own parcel with its own label, so a set of four takes four labels. A tire mounted on a rim weighs more, and the rim edge needs padding. Watch the weight: UPS and Purolator add a handling charge over 50 lb, and FedEx over 55 lb.

If you ship sets regularly, Bulk labels make a label for each tire from one spreadsheet.