Rate sources and methodology
Every price on LankaShip comes from a carrier's own published rates. This page shows the source and date of each, and how we turn them into the comparison you see.
Where the prices come from
| Carrier and service | Source | Dated | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| SL Post: EMS, Air Parcel, SAL Parcel, Sea Parcel, U-Packet, Airmail Letter | Foreign postage tariff, Gazette Extraordinary No. 2289/08 (19 July 2022) | In force from 1 August 2022 | 186 countries |
| SL Post: Tracked Delivery Service (TDS) | SL Post rate card for Tracked Delivery Service, by country group A–H | In force from 1 October 2025 | 185 countries |
| SL Post: registration | SL Post registration fee, LKR 870 per item, added only to rows marked Registered | Current fee | Airmail letters |
| SL Post: domestic letters and printed matter | SL Post domestic postage, published on slpost.gov.lk (standard letter LKR 70 up to 30 g) | In force from 9 February 2026 | Sri Lanka |
| SL Post: domestic parcels, courier and cash on delivery | Domestic parcel, courier and COD rates; not changed in the February 2026 revision | In force from 15 August 2022 | Sri Lanka |
| SL Post: air mail despatch days | Air Mail Despatch Closing Schedule | From 2 January 2024 until further notice | 55 countries |
| SL Post: surface (sea) mail closing dates | SL Post's monthly "Surface Mail Closing" list | October 2026, updated 6 October 2026 | 14 destinations |
| SL Post: maximum parcel size and weight | Circular POST/HQ/OP/IPS/F/1186/2023 | 30 November 2023 | 61 countries |
| Colombo Mail and the services it sells (including Singapore Post, Hermes and USPS) | Quotes from Colombo Mail's public online calculator | Collected 21 October 2026 – 22 October 2026 | 30 countries |
"In force from" is the date each tariff took effect. SL Post's international tariff has not changed since August 2022, so it is still the current one. We last checked every source on 22 October 2026.
How a price is worked out
- Weight. We round the weight you enter up to the next whole gram, then apply each carrier's own rule. SL Post charges by weight band, for example 501 g to 1 kg. Colombo Mail's own services round up to the next 0.5 kg. USPS, Singapore Post and Hermes charge actual weight, with a 50 g minimum.
- Country group. SL Post prices Airmail Letters and TDS by country group A–H. We take each country's group from SL Post's gazetted airmail letter rates, which use the same groups.
- Price. We look up the band for that weight. Courier prices are exact at the weights we collected. Between two collected weights, we estimate on a straight line and mark the price Est.
- Comparison. All services are listed from cheapest to most expensive. "Fastest" is the service with the shortest stated delivery time. We don't rank by speed where a carrier doesn't state one.
How we check the prices
- Each release runs automatic checks of our calculations against prices published by the carriers, for example SL Post's gazette figures and prices shown on Colombo Mail's calculator.
- When we collect a carrier's prices again, we compare them with the previous collection and flag any that changed.
- The date shown for each source is the date the rate came into force or the date we collected it.
When a rate can't be verified
- We don't guess outside the data. If a parcel is lighter than the lightest price we hold for an actual-weight service, or heavier than a service's limit, that service isn't shown, and a note tells you to check with the carrier.
- We don't fill gaps. If we can't place a country in a group (for example, where SL Post publishes no airmail letter rate for it), the services that need the group aren't shown for that country.
- Estimates are labelled. Any price we worked out between two collected prices is marked Est.
- Reported errors come first. If you tell us a price is wrong, we check it against the carrier's current published rate and correct or remove it.
Size check and volumetric weight
If you enter your box size, we check it against SL Post's limits for EMS, Air, SAL and Sea parcels: the longest side, the length plus girth (girth is twice the width plus the height), and the weight. We also show the volumetric weight (length × width × height in cm ÷ 5000) that couriers may charge when it's more than the actual weight. Courier prices in the list still use actual weight, so check bulky parcels with the carrier.
What prices don't include
Unless a row says otherwise, prices are base postage or the carrier's quoted price. They don't include insurance, customs duties and taxes at the destination, or volumetric-weight charges for large, light boxes.
Report a price
If you were charged a different price, please tell us the destination, weight, service and the price you paid.