Choosing a courier is decided by coverage, returns, tracking and paperwork - not by price per parcel. The criteria, the questions to send in writing, and what to pilot.
Key takeaways
- Real geographic coverage matters more than price, and it differs between carriers.
- Returns are the least examined clause and the most expensive later.
- What comes back as information - statuses and proof of delivery - decides how many enquiries you get.
- No Israeli carrier publishes a technical specification; you receive it after opening an account.
Choosing a courier looks like comparing a price per parcel and is in practice a comparison of five other things: where they genuinely deliver, what they commit to in writing, what information comes back to you, what happens on a return, and how it all lands in your paperwork. A business comparing only price pays the difference in customer service.
The five criteria that actually separate carriers
| Criterion | What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | The areas you genuinely ship to, by postcode | The periphery and small towns are not a given |
| Time commitment | What the agreement says, not what was said on a call | It is what you will promise the customer |
| Proof of delivery | What comes back: time, recipient name, signature | It is the evidence when a customer says it never arrived |
| Returns | Whether there is a dedicated service or another trip | It is steady volume in a store, not an exception |
| Information back | Statuses, update frequency, how you receive them | Decides how many "where is my parcel" messages you get |
The third row is what settles disputes: HFD, for instance, publishes proof of delivery including time, recipient name and signature. A carrier that does not provide that leaves you with no evidence against a non-delivery claim.
What each one has built
- HFD - a courier focused on e-commerce, with same-day and next-day services, an ETA system for the customer, E-Post automated lockers, and a published list of ready integrations with commerce platforms.
- Cheetah - domestic delivery alongside the Cheetah Shops pickup network, international shipping and customs brokerage.
- Israel Post - broad national reach with a network of delivery centres and a dedicated e-commerce service (Click2post) distributing parcels across roughly 1,000 points, plus a returns service for commerce sites.
Choosing between the three is not "which is best" but which is built around your problem: speed in the centre, pickup points, or reaching every town in the country.
The questions worth sending in writing
- Which postcodes do you reach, and in what time - including the periphery.
- What is the latest collection time from our warehouse, and what happens if we are late.
- What exactly comes back as proof of delivery, and how long is it retained.
- How does a return work: who initiates, who collects, and how long it takes.
- What happens when the customer is not home - how many attempts, and then what.
- Which integrations exist for our platform, by name.
- What is the compensation policy for loss or damage, and what is required to claim it.
Question seven surprises businesses after the first incident: what is required to get compensation - documentation, packaging, reporting window - decides whether you get it at all, and it is worth knowing beforehand.
What to measure in a pilot
One month with a few dozen real shipments reveals more than any meeting. What to measure: first-attempt delivery rate by area, how long it genuinely takes from collection to delivery, how many "where is my parcel" enquiries reached you, and how many returns completed without a phone call from you.
The fourth is the best predictor of future headaches, and it is also the one no carrier puts in a proposal.
What costs more than the price per parcel
The price difference between carriers is usually small next to three other costs: customer service time spent tracing parcels, redeliveries caused by a wrong address or an absent customer, and credits for goods lost or damaged.
A business that counts those three for a month often finds the cheaper carrier is the more expensive one. It is also the basis for a serious conversation with the carrier: data on failure rates in a specific area is a far stronger argument than a general request for a discount.
Why not rely on one carrier?
Many stores work with two: one for most shipments, and one for areas or cases where the first is weak - the periphery, urgent delivery, or pickup points. It adds a little operational complexity and reduces dependency risk.
What matters is that the choice between them is a rule rather than a manual decision per order. A simple rule - certain postcodes go to carrier B - keeps it consistent and lets you measure each one separately. A detailed comparison of the three main carriers is in HFD vs Cheetah vs Israel Post.
What the store has to prepare on its own side
A large share of delivery failures are born before the parcel leaves. Four things worth fixing before changing carrier, because they matter more than the choice itself:
- A structured address at checkout - city and street as separate fields, not one free-text box.
- A valid mobile number, because it is the channel carrying notifications and locker codes.
- Weight and dimensions per item, even as defaults, so pricing holds no surprises.
- A dispatch gate that prevents two parcels for one order on a double click.
The last costs real money: a duplicate shipment means two labels, two charges, and a customer receiving two parcels. How to prevent it is covered in multi-channel orders into one queue.
What a good rate conversation looks like
Rates are set by volume, area and weight, so what improves them is data rather than pressure. A business arriving with numbers - shipments per month, geographic distribution, average weight, and return rate - gets a more accurate offer than one asking for "a good price".
It is also worth asking what happens to the rate as volume grows, and what happens when it falls in a slow month. A clear answer to both lets you plan; a vague one is a sign the rate will be revisited exactly when it suits you least.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to connect a carrier to a store?
The commercial side - account, rates, areas - is usually the fast part. What sets the timeline is the technical connection: with a ready plugin for your platform it is days; with a custom connection the specification only arrives after the account exists, so a date cannot be committed in advance.
Can we get an API specification before opening an account?
In Israel, almost never. Carriers hand connection details to existing customers, and that is the industry norm rather than an exception. What you can establish in advance is which ready integrations exist, and for most stores that is enough.
What about pickup points and lockers?
They reduce delivery failures and cost, but they require you to store the identifier of the point the customer chose - not only its name. That is a common mistake discovered when the first real dispatch fails, and more on it is in [multi-channel orders into one queue](/blog/multi-channel-orders-single-queue).
What do we do when a parcel disappears?
Act quickly and by what the agreement requires: open a case with the carrier within the defined window, keep the proof of delivery and packaging details, and handle the customer in parallel without waiting for the outcome. A customer who waits a fortnight for an answer remembers that more than the parcel.
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About the author
Yehonatan Saadia
Freelance automation, web & MVP developer
I'm Yehonatan Saadia, a senior developer who builds business automation, custom websites, and MVPs for small and mid-sized companies across the US, Europe, and Israel. These guides come from real client work, not theory.
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