Our Shipping & Carrier Partner Network

EMFH works with the UK’s leading courier and parcel carriers to give your customers the fastest, most reliable delivery experience — at rates significantly lower than you could negotiate independently. Our multi-carrier model means no single point of failure, best-fit carrier selection per shipment and full tracking visibility from despatch to door.

6 Trusted UK Carriers — One Fulfilment Partner

Every parcel is matched to the right carrier based on size, weight, destination and your customer’s chosen delivery speed — automatically, every time.

Same-Day Despatch
Cut-off 2pm Mon–Fri

UK Golden Triangle
Every postcode in 24–48hrs

Negotiated Carrier Rates
Lower than retail, no markup

Full Tracking Included
End-to-end visibility, every parcel

Our Carrier Partners — Services, Coverage & Best Use Cases

EMFH selects the right carrier for every shipment automatically — based on weight, dimensions, delivery speed and destination. Here’s what each carrier brings to your fulfilment operation.

DPD

UK’s Leading Tracked Parcel Carrier

DPD is EMFH’s primary carrier for tracked B2C parcels. Their Predict technology notifies your customers with a one-hour delivery window, reducing failed deliveries and improving your post-purchase experience. DPD’s dense UK network ensures consistent next-day coverage across the mainland.

Services Available

Best for:

Fashion, home goods, electronics and any brand where delivery experience and customer communication matter most.

Royal Mail

The UK’s Most Trusted Postal Network

Royal Mail remains the carrier of choice for lightweight, letter-format and small-parcel shipments. With nationwide delivery 6 days a week and a trusted brand that customers recognise, Royal Mail is ideal for high-volume, lower-weight eCommerce orders where cost-per-parcel is critical.

Services Available

Best for:

Health & beauty, supplements, accessories, clothing and any brand shipping lightweight parcels at high volume.

Evri (formerly Hermes)

High-Volume Economy Parcel Delivery

Evri offers EMFH clients a highly cost-effective option for standard tracked parcel delivery, particularly suited to higher-volume operations where per-parcel cost is a priority. With an extensive UK network and improving service levels, Evri is a strong choice for non-urgent consumer deliveries.

Services Available

Best for:

High-volume fashion, toys and gifting brands where economy tracked delivery is the priority and cost-per-parcel needs to be minimised.

DHL Express

Premium Express & International Delivery

DHL brings EMFH clients access to world-class express delivery — domestically and internationally. For time-critical UK shipments and for brands selling into Europe, the Middle East, Asia and beyond, DHL’s global network is unmatched. DHL also provides B2B pallet and freight services.

Services Available

Best for:

Premium brands, high-value goods, international sellers and B2B shipments requiring guaranteed delivery with full end-to-end tracking.

Whistl

Smart Downstream Access & Bulk Mail

Whistl specialises in downstream access postal services and high-volume fulfilment for catalogues, direct mail and bulk parcel operations. For EMFH clients running large-scale B2C or D2C operations with significant postcode coverage requirements, Whistl provides a cost-competitive alternative to Royal Mail for certain weight bands.

Services Available

Best for:

High-volume mailers, catalogue brands and businesses sending large quantities of lightweight parcels or promotional materials across the UK.

UPS

Reliable B2B & International Parcels

UPS rounds out EMFH’s carrier portfolio with strong B2B delivery capabilities and a reliable international network. UPS Access Points give recipients flexible collection options, and UPS’s digital tools integrate cleanly into our WMS for seamless label generation and tracking.

Services Available

Best for:

B2B deliveries, larger parcels, international shipments and brands that require flexible recipient collection options via the UPS Access Point network.

Every Delivery Speed Your Customers Expect

From economy tracked to guaranteed next-day by 9am and international express — EMFH gives you access to every delivery speed at every price point, without managing multiple carrier accounts yourself.

Same-Day Despatch

Cut-off: 2pm Monday–Friday

Every order confirmed in our WMS before 2pm on a working day is picked, packed, labelled and handed to our courier partners the same afternoon. Your customer receives tracking confirmation the moment the parcel is scanned by the carrier.

Carriers: DPD, Royal Mail, Evri, DHL, Whistl, UPS

Next-Day Delivery

Delivery by 6pm, 10:30am or 9am options

Next-day delivery is available across all major UK mainland postcodes. Timed options (by noon or by 10:30am) are available for premium shipments. DPD Predict notifies your customer with a one-hour delivery window the evening before — reducing failed deliveries and customer service contacts.

Carriers: DPD Next Day, Royal Mail Special Delivery, DHL Express, UPS Express

2–3 Day Economy Tracked

Cost-effective tracked delivery

For brands where price-per-parcel is the priority, our economy tracked services deliver across the UK in 2–3 working days. Full tracking is included as standard — no compromise on customer visibility, just a lower cost per shipment that improves your margin.

Carriers: Royal Mail 48, Evri Standard, DPD Classic, Whistl Parcels

International Delivery

Europe, USA, Australia & worldwide

Selling internationally? EMFH handles cross-border despatch through our international carrier partners. We manage customs documentation, duties and international labelling requirements — making global selling simple from our Nottingham fulfilment centre.

Carriers: DHL Express Worldwide, Royal Mail International Tracked, UPS Worldwide Express

One Carrier Is a Single Point of Failure

Brands that rely on a single carrier are exposed — to service outages, price increases, capacity restrictions during peak periods and the inability to choose the best-fit carrier for each parcel type. EMFH’s multi-carrier model eliminates all of these risks.

Our warehouse management system automatically selects the optimal carrier for each outgoing shipment based on weight, dimensions, destination postcode, delivery speed and cost — saving you money and ensuring the best delivery experience for every customer, every time.

Carrier Resilience

If one carrier has a service disruption, we reroute affected shipments to an alternative carrier — often before you even know there’s an issue.

Rate Optimisation

Our WMS compares carrier rates in real time per shipment, ensuring you always pay the lowest possible cost for every service level you offer.

Single-Dashboard Tracking

Track every parcel across every carrier from one place. Your inventory dashboard shows real-time despatch and delivery status for all shipments.

Peak-Season Capacity

Multi-carrier access means we’re never capacity-constrained during Black Friday, Christmas or other peak periods that strain single-carrier operations.

One Invoice, All Carriers

We consolidate all carrier costs into your single monthly EMFH invoice. No managing separate carrier accounts, invoices or rate cards.

Parcels Despatched Per Year
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Carrier Partners
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On-Time Despatch Rate
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UK Nationwide Coverage
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Easy Returns — Pre-Paid Label Generation for Your Customers

EMFH generates pre-paid return labels on your behalf, making it simple for your customers to return unwanted or faulty items. Returns are received at our Nottingham warehouse, inspected against your agreed criteria and returned to saleable stock — all within 48 hours.

We support returns via Royal Mail (drop-to-post) and Evri (parcel shop drop-off) as standard — the two most accessible return methods for UK consumers. Bespoke returns options including collection services can be arranged for high-value items.

Royal Mail Returns

The UK’s most trusted returns carrier. Customers drop returns to any of 11,500 Post Office branches or post boxes. Pre-paid Tracked Returns labels generated automatically by EMFH.

Evri ParcelShop Returns

Over 5,000 Evri ParcelShop drop-off points across the UK — including convenience stores, newsagents and supermarkets. Popular with customers who prefer parcel-shop returns to Post Office visits.

Bespoke Collection Returns

For high-value items or B2B returns requiring collection, we can arrange courier collection returns via DPD or DHL. Contact our team to discuss requirements.

Shipping & Carrier Questions Answered

Common questions from eCommerce brands about how we select carriers, manage shipping costs and ensure on-time delivery. Can’t find your answer? Call 0115 646 1101 or email 3pl@emfh.co.uk.

There is no single default carrier — our WMS automatically selects the most cost-effective and appropriate carrier for each shipment based on weight, dimensions, destination postcode and the delivery service your customer has chosen. For standard B2C parcels, DPD and Royal Mail handle the majority of our volume, with Evri used for high-volume economy shipments.

Yes. If you have a preference for a particular carrier — for example, Royal Mail for all lightweight parcels or DPD for all next-day orders — we can configure your account accordingly. Many clients also set carrier preferences by weight band or service level. Speak to your account manager about your preferred carrier setup during onboarding.

No — our carrier rates are significantly lower than retail in all cases. Because EMFH despatches thousands of parcels weekly across all our clients, we have negotiated volume-based rates with all six of our carrier partners. These savings are passed directly to you with no markup. For most clients, the shipping savings alone offset a significant proportion of our fulfilment fees.

Our multi-carrier model is specifically designed to protect against this. If one carrier experiences a service disruption — a strike, network outage or capacity issue — we can switch affected shipments to an alternative carrier immediately. We monitor carrier service updates daily and act proactively. You’ll be notified of any significant disruptions affecting your orders.

Next-day delivery is available on request and is not charged as a premium service by EMFH — you pay the carrier’s next-day rate (at our negotiated discount) and we ensure the order is despatched before the 2pm cut-off. Standard UK delivery for most orders placed before 2pm arrives within 1–2 working days due to our central Nottingham location in the UK’s Golden Triangle.

Yes. We handle international despatch via DHL Express, Royal Mail International Tracked and UPS Worldwide. We manage customs documentation, export declarations and international labelling requirements. International shipping rates are passed through at our negotiated rates. If you sell into the EU, USA, Australia or other markets, speak to our team about setting up international shipping on your account.

What UK eCommerce Brands Say About EMFH Shipping

Sarah Mitchell
Sarah Mitchell

Founder, Bloom & Thread — Shopify Fashion Brand

Since moving to EMFH our dispatch accuracy went from 94% to a consistent 99.8%. Same-day cut-off at 2pm transformed our customer reviews — our Trustpilot score jumped from 3.9 to 4.8 within three months. The dedicated account manager means we always have one real person to call.

Daniel Okafor
Daniel Okafor

eCommerce Director, NutriBoost UK — WooCommerce

Onboarding took less than a week, our WooCommerce integration was live on day one, and we haven't had a single mis-pick in over six months. The live inventory dashboard gives us visibility we never had before. Highly recommend for any brand scaling past 500 orders a month.

Emma Clarke
Emma Clarke

Operations Manager, KidsCraft Co. — Amazon & Shopify

EMFH handles both our Amazon FBA prep and our Shopify DTC orders brilliantly. The FBA team knows Amazon's requirements inside out — zero rejections since we moved. Transparent pricing, no hidden fees and they proactively flag issues before they become problems.

James Whitfield
James Whitfield

CEO, SportStack UK — Multi-Channel Seller

We sell across Amazon, eBay and our own WooCommerce site. EMFH took on all three channels seamlessly. Their Nottingham location means most UK customers get next-day as standard — a genuine competitive advantage. Responsive, honest and proactive.

Access 6 Carrier Partners Through One 3PL Account

Stop managing multiple carrier contracts, invoices and rate cards. EMFH gives your brand access to DPD, Royal Mail, Evri, DHL, Whistl and UPS — at negotiated rates, through a single fulfilment partner in Nottingham.