In short
- Plan on about 0.1 m³ of storage per medium parcel of stock: a 1 m³ cupboard holds roughly 10 parcels, a 5 m³ storage room about 50 and a 25 m³ spare room about 250. On top of that you need one clear surface to pack on.
- Letterbox parcels are far smaller: at most 38 × 26.5 × 3.2 cm, so a shelf takes a lot of them. Large boxes up to 60 × 50 × 40 cm are the ones that need a garage.
- Measured on 29 September 2026, a domestic letterbox service existed in only 3 of 22 countries on our rate card (the Netherlands, Finland and Norway), and Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia and Croatia had no large-parcel service at all. What you can take depends on where you live.
- Agree the number of boxes, not the number of items, before a shop sends its batch.
- AirPost is a peer-to-peer fulfilment network: online shops have their orders packed and dropped at a parcel point by verified people near their customers, who earn a fee per parcel from home. No warehouse, no minimum order volume.
The first question people ask about packing parcels from home is what it pays. The question that decides whether they keep doing it is where the stock goes. A batch that does not fit turns a spare corner into a hallway you walk around for weeks.
This article works out the space from the parcel sizes the app uses, gives you a rule of thumb per type of room, and ends with a checklist you can go through before your first batch arrives.
How much stock fits in a cupboard, a room or a garage?
When you sign up as a sender you say where you store parcels. If you do not enter your own volume, the app estimates it per type of space and turns it into a number of parcels at 10 per m³. That rule already leaves room for a walkway and for boxes that do not stack perfectly.
| Type of space | Usable volume (estimate) | Parcels of stock (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Cupboard | 1 m³ | 10 |
| Storage room | 5 m³ | 50 |
| Shed | 15 m³ | 150 |
| Spare room | 25 m³ | 250 |
| Garage | 40 m³ | 400 |
Measure the space you can genuinely give up, not the room. A spare room of 25 m³ is 25 m³ of air; the part you can stack against a wall without blocking a door or a window is usually a fraction of it. Height × width × depth of the shelf or corner, in metres, gives you the number to type in.
How big is each parcel size?
Sizes on AirPost follow four classes. The rule of thumb above uses the medium one; if you only take letterbox or small parcels, you fit many more in the same space.
| Size | Maximum dimensions | Volume | Max weight | Theoretical max per m³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letterbox parcel | 38 × 26.5 × 3.2 cm | 3.2 L | 2 kg | 310 |
| Small parcel | 35 × 25 × 15 cm | 13.1 L | 5 kg | 76 |
| Medium parcel | 45 × 35 × 30 cm | 47.3 L | 10 kg | 21 |
| Large parcel | 60 × 50 × 40 cm | 120.0 L | 30 kg | 8 |
The letterbox class matches the Dutch standard: PostNL accepts a letterbox parcel up to 38 × 26.5 × 3.2 cm and 2 kg. Parcel lockers set a different limit: InPost’s UK compartments are 8, 19 or 41 cm high by 38 × 64 cm, with a 15 kg maximum; in Poland the same three sizes take up to 25 kg. Anything bigger goes over a counter or to the door.
Stock usually arrives as items in outer cartons, not as ready-made parcels. Ask the shop how many cartons and what size, and compare that with your shelf. It is the number of cartons that has to fit, not the number of orders.
Which sizes can you take where you live?
A size only brings work if a carrier in your country offers a domestic service for it. We counted the domestic services per size on our shipping options on 29 September 2026:
| Country | Letterbox | Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 1 | 7 | 7 | 3 |
| Finland | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| France | 0 | 11 | 11 | 5 |
| Germany | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Belgium | 0 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| Spain | 0 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| Italy | 0 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Austria | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Czechia | 0 | 8 | 8 | 2 |
| Poland | 0 | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Portugal | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Ireland | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Denmark | 0 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Sweden | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Two consequences for your space. Outside the Netherlands, Finland and Norway, the smallest thing you will pack is a small parcel, so budget for shoebox-sized items rather than envelopes. And in Denmark and Sweden (and Slovakia and Croatia) there is no large-parcel service today, so a garage is not a requirement there.
How much room do you need to pack?
Storage is where stock waits. Packing needs its own spot, even a small one, because a parcel packed on your lap is a parcel with the wrong item in it.
- A clear surface big enough for the largest box you accept, opened flat, plus room for the item next to it. For letterbox and small parcels a kitchen table works; for large boxes the floor often does.
- The printer within reach. One label per parcel, black and white on plain paper.
- Packing material in one place: boxes or mailers the shop sent along, tape, and filler. Flat-packed boxes take little space; the filler is what grows.
- Somewhere to put finished parcels until your drop-off trip, separate from the stock so nothing gets packed twice.
Size your daily capacity to your space
During sign-up you set how many parcels a day you can take. Base it on the packing spot, not on the storage: a big garage with a small table still packs at the speed of the table. Start low; raising it is always possible.
Checklist before your first batch arrives
- Measured the space you can give up, and entered it rather than relying on the estimate.
- Dry and out of direct sun; boxes off a bare concrete floor.
- Out of reach of children and pets, and separate from your own things.
- Asked the shop for the number and size of cartons, and confirmed they fit.
- Added photos of your storage to your profile — up to four, nothing personal in shot.
- Checked whether your home contents insurance covers goods that belong to someone else.
- A space you will need back within a few weeks.
- Accepting large parcels you cannot lift or store.
The rest of the setup — printer, identity check, payout account and the nine sign-up steps — is in what you need to pack parcels from home.
Does more space mean more money?
Only up to a point. You are paid per parcel packed, not per cubic metre: €1.50 recommended for a letterbox parcel up to €5.50 for a large box. More space lets you hold stock from more shops or larger batches, which helps, but the orders still have to come.
A shelf in a cupboard with fast-moving letterbox parcels can earn more than a garage full of stock that sells slowly. What that looks like per month is in how much can you earn packing parcels from home, and how packing compares with driving for a courier app is in packing parcels vs delivery driving.
Work out what your space could earn
What does it pay?
Slide to the number of parcels you can handle in a week.
| Parcels a week | Your rate per parcel | Estimated per month |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | €1.50 | €116 |
| 50 | €2.25 | €437 |
| 250 | €3.00 | €2,910 |
An estimate based on four weeks. Your orders decide the real amount.
Who this work suits, and who it does not, is on earn from home packing parcels.
Frequently asked questions
How much space do I need to pack parcels from home?
About 0.1 m³ per medium parcel of stock, plus a clear surface to pack on. A 1 m³ cupboard holds roughly 10 parcels; a 25 m³ spare room about 250.
Can I pack parcels from a small flat?
Yes, if you take letterbox or small parcels and agree small batches. A single cupboard is enough to start; tell the shop how many cartons fit before they send stock.
What are the parcel sizes?
Letterbox up to 38 × 26.5 × 3.2 cm and 2 kg, small up to 35 × 25 × 15 cm and 5 kg, medium up to 45 × 35 × 30 cm and 10 kg, and large up to 60 × 50 × 40 cm and 30 kg.
Do I need a garage?
Only for large parcels, and many senders do not take those. In Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia and Croatia there was no domestic large-parcel service on our rate card on 29 September 2026.
What happens if a batch does not fit?
Say so before it is sent. You agree the batch with the shop in the chat, and it is easier to send two smaller batches than to store one that blocks your hallway.
Sources
Tell shops how much space you have
Create an account