Air fare less than a parcel

Melissa Wastney regularly uses courier services. Photo / Supplied

It's sometimes cheaper to buy a seat on a plane than courier a small package between cities. And in an urgent situation it is too easy to go with the first company that comes to mind, no matter the price.

But courier rates can range by more than 100 per cent, a Herald on Sunday survey has revealed.

The cheapest same-day rate between Auckland and Wellington was $168 with Urgent Couriers, a flat rate to send anything from a featherweight passport to a 2kg shoe box. Next best was Pace, a subsidiary of NZ Post, at $171.

For those with the luxury of time, an overnight delivery was quoted for about one-tenth of the same-day price. For $14, Post Haste could have a shoebox-size package delivered in Wellington by midday.

For a few dollars more, NZ Couriers could deliver before 9.30am the next day. That put it among the fastest and cheapest of the five companies.

The most expensive next-day option, Urgent Couriers, quoted $35 but cautioned that about 5 per cent of its deliveries took two days. Managing director Steve Bonnici said the company's core business was same-day service. Other jobs were contracted to other companies, which meant its overnight rates were not as competitive as others.

Those fees make good old NZ Post's snail mail look great value - for about $7.20 it would arrive in one to three days, very attractive for the non-urgent.

Each company based its fee on a complex calculation of size, weight and "zone", creating a difficult platform for consumers to compare prices. Courier Post general manager Steve Beaumont said his company used a formula to calculate a price for weight and a price for size then charged customers the greater of the two. "People send a variety of things so a simple structure doesn't work. If you were sending a kilogram of styrofoam in a big box it would cost more than a kilogram of something smaller."

Freightway boss Dean Bracewell - in charge of NZ Couriers and Post Haste - acknowledged the pricing system could be confusing for consumers wanting to shop around.

Both companies offered a flat rate for same-day delivery within Auckland, so most items could be sent for $10 with NZ Couriers or $6.50 with Post Haste.

Cost to Aussie can be cheaper

Businesswoman Melissa Wastney ships hundreds of packages a year through her online craft shop Tiny Happy and says sending goods to Australia can be cheaper than sending the same package within her home city.

" The way they calculate the rate is confusing, especially within New Zealand," she says. "It can seem quite random. When you're sending internationally it tends to be calculated on weight, but within New Zealand it's usually on size. A ceramic in a small box might cost around $5 to go to Australia, when it would be $7 within Wellington."

Wastney uses NZ Post's standard service rather than courier companies as she finds the cheap-as-chips option just as reliable.

But sometimes there is no choice. Wastney concedes that she has paid a small fortune to courier passports and last-minute birthday presents around the country. "You don't really think about it. If it's an emergency, you just pay."