Parcel size and weight limits for Irish senders
Size decides the price more often than weight does, and the two organisations most Irish people post with do the size sum differently. Both are here, worked on the same box.
What are the size and weight limits?
An Post standard post carries parcels up to 20 kg, with a length limit of 1.5 m and length plus girth up to 3 m. The courier prices we hold run to 30 kg. Above that it is freight, quoted case by case.
An Post limits from anpost.com, read 14 August 2026. Courier weights from our weekly market check, run Friday, 14 August.
The weight ceiling is rarely the one that catches people. The shape one is: a rolled rug can be well under 20 kg and still be refused on length, and a wardrobe box can be light and still price like a heavy parcel because of the space it takes up.
What does a 2 kg parcel look like?
This is the box we send with each quote request, so it is a fair picture of what a parcel at that weight usually is. It is not a size allowance: the volumetric ceiling in the next section is the number that decides the price.
| Weight band (kg) | Box we quote it with (cm) | Roughly | Cheapest within Ireland (€) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 kg | 23 × 17 × 8 | A paperback, or a folded t-shirt in a mailer | €7.00 |
| 1 kg | 30 × 20 × 15 | A pair of shoes in their box | €8.85 |
| 2 kg | 33 × 25 × 20 | A hardback and a jumper, or a large shoebox | €8.85 |
| 3 kg | 35 × 30 × 20 | A small kitchen appliance | €8.85 |
| 5 kg | 40 × 30 × 25 | A case of wine, or a heavy coat | €9.85 |
| 7.5 kg | 45 × 35 × 30 | A carry-on bag’s worth of clothes | €9.85 |
| 10 kg | 50 × 40 × 30 | A desktop printer, or a full toolbox | €10.85 |
| 15 kg | 55 × 45 × 35 | A small microwave | €11.85 |
| 20 kg | 60 × 45 × 40 | A large suitcase packed light | €12.85 |
| 25 kg | 60 × 50 × 40 | A car tyre, or a bag of dog food and then some | €12.85 |
| 30 kg | 61 × 46 × 46 | About as much as one person carries comfortably | €15.85 |
Prices from our weekly market check, run Friday, 14 August.
Volumetric weight: two different sums
Couriers divide by 5,000. An Post divides by 6,000. The same box gives two different answers, and the An Post one is always the lower of the two.
A carrier sells space in a van, not weight on a scale. A duvet weighs almost nothing and fills a shelf; a box of books is the opposite. So every carrier works out a second weight from the measurements and charges on whichever of the two is greater.
One box, both sums
A 60 × 40 × 30 cm box holding 2 kg of clothes is 72,000 cm³.
Courier: 72,000 ÷ 5,000 = 14.4 kg, which prices at the 15 kg band.
An Post: 72,000 ÷ 6,000 = 12.0 kg.
The scales said 2 kg in both cases and neither carrier cared. Very few pages state both divisors, which is a shame, because the difference is the whole reason a counter price and an online quote can disagree about the same parcel.
An Post publishes its own worked example of the sum: a 62 × 49 × 39 cm item comes to 19.75 kg, rounded up to 20 kg.
Divisor and worked example from An Post’s sending guide, read 14 August 2026. The courier divisor is the one every service we compare uses, and the one the volumetric weight calculator applies.
The biggest box that still prices at each band
Work the sum backwards and you get something more useful than a limit: the volume a parcel can reach before size, rather than weight, decides the price. Below that figure the scales win. Above it, the tape measure does.
| Weight band (kg) | Courier ceiling (cm³) | As a cube (cm a side) | An Post ceiling (cm³) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 kg | 2,500 | 14 | 3,000 |
| 1 kg | 5,000 | 17 | 6,000 |
| 2 kg | 10,000 | 22 | 12,000 |
| 3 kg | 15,000 | 25 | 18,000 |
| 5 kg | 25,000 | 29 | 30,000 |
| 7.5 kg | 37,500 | 33 | 45,000 |
| 10 kg | 50,000 | 37 | 60,000 |
| 15 kg | 75,000 | 42 | 90,000 |
| 20 kg | 100,000 | 46 | 120,000 |
| 25 kg | 125,000 | 50 | not carried |
| 30 kg | 150,000 | 53 | not carried |
Read the 2 kg row like this: a 2 kg parcel can be up to 10,000 cm³, a cube about 22 cm a side, before a courier stops charging on the scales.
An Post’s size rules, packet and parcel
An Post runs two products and the cheaper one has the tighter shape rules. Getting an item into packet dimensions is the single biggest saving available on light post in Ireland.
| Limit | Packet | Parcel |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum weight | 2 kg | 20 kg |
| Length, width and depth added up | 900 mm | – |
| Longest single side | 600 mm | 1.5 m |
| Length plus girth | – | 3 m |
| Tubes and rolls | Length + 2 × diameter under 1,040 mm | – |
From An Post’s sending guide, read 14 August 2026. Girth is twice the depth plus twice the width, so a long thin item can pass the length test and fail the girth one.
Getting a parcel down a band
Two changes actually work. Most of the rest is folklore.
1. A smaller box, not a lighter one
Taking a 60 × 40 × 30 cm box down to 50 × 35 × 25 drops the volumetric weight from 14.4 kg to 8.75 kg. Same contents, two bands lower. Fill dead space with soft padding rather than stepping up a box size.
2. A mailer instead of a box
Clothes in a padded mailer take a fraction of the volume of the same clothes in a rigid box, and for An Post it is also the difference between a packet and a parcel. For light soft goods, the packaging choice is worth more than the carrier choice.
Measure the outside of the box once it is taped shut and packed, and round each side up to the next centimetre. Include any bulge: the depot measures what arrives, and a parcel that measures over gets re-rated at the higher band after collection.
Work out your own box, then price it.
Common questions
What is the maximum parcel size An Post will take?
An Post standard post carries parcels up to 20 kg, with a length limit of 1.5 m and a length plus girth limit of 3 m, where girth is twice the depth plus twice the width. Read on anpost.com 14 August 2026. A packet is a separate, cheaper product capped at 2 kg with length plus width plus depth of 900 mm and no single side over 600 mm.
What does a 2 kg parcel look like?
We quote the 2 kg band with a box of 33 × 25 × 20 cm, which is about a large shoebox. On size alone, a 2 kg parcel can be anything up to 10,000 cm³ before a courier starts charging on volume instead of weight, which is a cube of roughly 22 cm a side.
How do I calculate volumetric weight?
Multiply length by width by height in centimetres and divide by 5,000 for a courier, or by 6,000 for An Post. A 60 × 40 × 30 cm box is 72,000 cm³, which is 14.4 kg by the courier sum and 12.0 kg by the An Post one. Same box, two answers, because the two use different divisors.
Is volumetric or actual weight charged?
Whichever of the two is greater, rounded up to the next weight band. That is the rule everywhere, and it is why a large box of pillows can cost more to send than a small box of books that weighs twice as much.
What is the heaviest parcel I can send from Ireland?
We compare parcels up to 30 kg, which is roughly where consumer parcel pricing stops. An Post standard post stops at 20 kg. Above 30 kg you are into freight and pallets, which carriers quote case by case rather than off a grid.