In short
- Per hour of work, packing parcels at home can pay more than delivery driving, but the hours are limited by how many orders shops near you send: at 50 small parcels a week you net about €437 a month for roughly four hours a week, with no fuel or vehicle costs.
- Delivery driving has more hours on offer where blocks are available, but you pay the car: Amazon Flex UK advertises up to £14–£18 an hour, before fuel, wear and hire-and-reward insurance.
- HMRC values business driving at 55p a mile in 2026-27. That is the number to hold against any hourly figure from a courier app.
- The two combine well: packing needs a shelf and time at home, driving needs a car and free blocks.
- 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.
If you want extra income without a second employer, two kinds of parcel work come up first: delivering them for a courier app, or packing them at home for online shops. Both are flexible, both are paid per piece of work, and both are sold with an hourly figure that leaves out what you pay yourself.
This comparison puts the pay, the costs and the limits side by side. The AirPost figures come from the same code the app uses; the courier figures come from the operators’ own pages and from GOV.UK.
Which pays more per hour: packing or delivering?
A packer is paid per parcel. The app recommends €1.50 for a letterbox parcel and €2.25 for a small parcel, and packing takes three to five minutes once you have done a few. After the 3% commission, that works out as follows per hour spent packing:
| Parcel size | Recommended fee | At 5 min per parcel | At 3 min per parcel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letterbox parcel | €1.50 | €17.46 | €29.10 |
| Small parcel | €2.25 | €26.19 | €43.65 |
A courier app pays per block or per drop. Amazon Flex in the UK states that "most drivers earn up to £14–£18 per hour", based on location and a number of packages delivered within a block. That is gross: the car, the fuel and the insurance come out of it.
On hourly rate alone, packing wins. But the hourly rate is not what limits either job. What limits packing is volume; what limits driving is cost.
How much does delivery driving really cost you?
The honest yardstick for car costs in the UK is HMRC’s approved mileage rate: the amount the tax system accepts as the cost of using your own car for business. For the 2026-27 tax year it is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that.
- Every 10 miles of delivering is £5.50 of car cost at that rate, which is meant to cover fuel, wear, servicing and depreciation.
- Insurance: Amazon Flex UK requires hire-and-reward insurance for car deliveries on top of your normal cover.
- The vehicle itself: Flex UK asks for a mid-size car or larger with five or more seats; smaller cars are not eligible. An e-bike route exists, with its own insurance.
- Time between drops: parking, stairs and failed deliveries all sit inside the block.
Compare it with a wage
The UK National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour from April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. An hourly figure from an app, minus car costs at 55p a mile, is worth putting next to that number before you book your first block.
What does packing at home cost you?
- A printer and plain paper for the labels.
- A dry shelf, cupboard or room for the shop’s stock.
- One trip a week to a parcel point, ideally one you pass anyway.
- No car required for letterbox and small parcels; a bike bag does it.
- No postage: the shop pays for every label.
- No deposit, subscription or insurance to buy before you start.
For large parcels a car helps, but some carriers also collect from your door. On our rate card, measured on 29 September 2026:
| Country | Carrier | Collection from your door |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | DHL | €1.74 per parcel, up to 10 per collection |
| Germany | UPS | €3.70 per trip |
| France | FedEx | Free |
| Belgium | bpost | On request |
How many hours can you actually get?
This is where the two jobs differ most. A courier app has work where it has demand; if blocks are open in your area, more hours means more money. Packing is paid only for orders that exist: a shop has to place stock with you and its customers have to order.
| Parcels per week | Time per week (approx.) | Net a month at €1.50 | Net a month at €2.25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | under 1 hour | €58 | €87 |
| 25 | 2 hours | €146 | €218 |
| 50 | 4 hours | €291 | €437 |
| 100 | 8 hours | €582 | €873 |
Nobody can promise you the volume. It depends on how many shops want stock in your area this month. The full arithmetic, including tax and yearly totals, is in how much can you earn packing parcels from home.
Try your own numbers
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.
Side by side
| Packing parcels at home | App-based delivery driving | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid per | Parcel, at a fee you set | Block or drop, at the app’s rate |
| Vehicle | Not needed for small parcels | Car or e-bike, meeting the app’s rules |
| Running costs | Paper, ink, one weekly trip | Fuel, wear, insurance |
| Space at home | A shelf to a room | None |
| What limits income | Orders from shops near you | Blocks available and your car costs |
| When you work | At home, within the agreed handover time | During the block you booked |
| Start-up check | Identity check with ID and selfie | Licence, right to work, vehicle and insurance checks |
Who is packing better for, and who is driving better for?
- Packing suits you if you are at home a lot, have a spare shelf or room, and do not own a large car — or do not want to put miles on it.
- Driving suits you if you have an eligible car, enjoy being on the road, and want to decide on a given day to work six hours rather than two.
- Both suit you if you want a base from packing and extra hours from driving when blocks are available. The two do not compete for the same hours: parcels get packed in the evening, blocks run in the day.
- Neither suits you if you need a guaranteed monthly amount. Both are paid per piece of work, and neither is a salary.
One thing is the same in both: a legitimate operator never asks you to pay first. How to tell real packing work from the scam version is in legit ways to earn from home without a scam. If you are in the UK, the tax side (the £1,000 trading allowance) is covered in earn from home packing parcels in the UK.
How do you start packing parcels?
Create a sender account
Choose a username and enter your address; shops see only your region.
Verify your identity
An ID document and a selfie, once. Without it no shop can send you stock.
Set sizes and fees
Pick which parcel sizes you accept and your fee for each. The app suggests €1.50 up to €5.50.
Add a payout account in your own name
An account in someone else’s name is refused.
Agree a batch with a shop
Say how much space you have before the stock is sent. Then pack, print and drop off.
What the work involves and who it does not suit is on earn from home packing parcels.
Frequently asked questions
Does packing parcels pay more than delivery driving?
Per hour of work, often yes: a small parcel pays €2.25 recommended and takes three to five minutes. But your hours are limited by the orders shops near you send, while driving hours depend on available blocks.
How much does Amazon Flex pay in the UK?
Amazon Flex UK states that most drivers earn up to £14–£18 per hour, depending on location and the packages in a block. Fuel, vehicle costs and hire-and-reward insurance come out of that.
What does it cost to use my car for deliveries?
HMRC’s approved mileage rate for 2026-27 is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that. It is the UK tax system’s estimate of what running a car for business costs.
Do I need a car to pack parcels from home?
Not for letterbox and small parcels; a bike bag and one trip a week are enough. Some carriers also collect larger parcels from your door.
Can I do both?
Yes. Packing happens at home when it suits you within the agreed handover time; driving happens in booked blocks. Many people use one as a base and the other for extra hours.
For restaurant meals specifically, use the UK food-delivery comparison, which distinguishes per-delivery work from an employee contract.
Sources
See what shops near you need packed
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