NullShip gives you access to multiple carriers for every route. But not all of them perform the same — and picking the wrong one can cost you a package. This guide helps you make better decisions.
Each carrier has a different success rate depending on the origin country, destination country, and even the specific route. A carrier that works perfectly for Spain to France might be unreliable for Italy to Germany. Don't assume that what works on one route will work on another.
The only way to know is to test and track. Pay attention to which carriers deliver consistently and which ones give you problems. Your experience is the best data you have.
Home delivery means the carrier has the recipient's real address in their system — street, house number, name. That's a lot of data tied to one shipment. Pickup point delivery is more discreet: the recipient collects the parcel with a code, and the address on file is the pickup point's, not theirs.
Whenever possible, choose pickup point delivery. Less data in the carrier's system means less exposure for everyone involved.
It's tempting to always pick the lowest price. But if a carrier is 2€ cheaper and loses 1 in 5 packages, the math doesn't work. That one lost package costs you the product, the label, and the customer.
Sometimes paying a little more for a carrier with a better track record saves you money in the long run. Think of it as insurance — the cheapest option is only cheap if it actually arrives.
Don't use the same carrier for every shipment on the same route. If you send 10 packages a week through UPS from the same city, and one gets flagged, an internal search could surface the other 9. If those 10 went through 4 different carriers, a problem with one doesn't compromise the rest.
NullShip shows you multiple carriers for every route. Use that to your advantage — diversify.
Large carriers like UPS and DHL are better equipped to handle heavy or oversized packages. Their networks are built for volume. For small, lightweight parcels, carriers with locker networks (like InPost) are often more discreet and efficient.
Match the carrier to the package. A 15kg box through a locker network doesn't make sense. A 500g envelope through a full-service carrier is overkill.
At a locker, the interaction is minimal: enter your code, place the parcel, walk away. No conversation, no questions about the contents, no employee who starts recognizing your face after repeated visits. At a staffed office, someone handles your parcel directly and can remember you.
Both have cameras. But the human factor at a staffed office adds a layer of risk that a locker doesn't. When you have the choice, lockers are preferable.
Some carriers in certain countries require additional identification — the sender's or recipient's national ID number, phone verification, or other personal data. This varies by country and by carrier.
Before selecting a carrier for a new route, check what data they require. A carrier that asks for minimal information is always preferable to one that demands a full identity profile.
During peak seasons — Christmas, Black Friday, sales periods — carriers handle massive volumes. Inspections tend to be less thorough because the priority is moving packages fast. However, delays also increase significantly, and tracking becomes less reliable.
Use high-volume periods strategically, but don't rely on them. The reduced scrutiny is a side effect, not a guarantee.
There's another side to holiday seasons that's less obvious: regular carrier staff take vacations and are replaced by temporary workers. These temps have less to lose and less loyalty to the company — and some of them won't hesitate to open packages and help themselves to the contents. Theft rates from carrier employees tend to spike during these periods. Keep this in mind when planning your shipments around holidays.
Carrier performance changes over time. A carrier that delivered reliably for months can suddenly start losing packages — maybe they changed their inspection process, maybe a specific hub is under pressure, maybe a new regulation kicked in.
If you notice a carrier that used to work well is now giving you problems, don't wait. Switch immediately. Loyalty to a carrier is not a strategy — results are.
The best way to choose the right carrier is to track what actually happens. Anomaly Hunter monitors publicly available tracking data for your shipments and alerts you when something goes wrong. Over time, you build a clear picture of which carriers work for which routes.
Your Performance Rank in Anomaly Hunter also shows you how your results compare to other senders from the same country — so you know if the problem is the carrier or your operational security.