Parcel pickup points in France: how do you collect and send a parcel?

All our pickup point guides

Each guide answers a single question, with the carriers' rules when their official page confirms them. This page gives the overall picture.

What is a pickup point?

What exactly is a pickup point? A place where you collect and drop off parcels, run on behalf of a carrier. Instead of being delivered to your home, the parcel waits there and you pick it up when it suits you, within a holding period. The same place is often where you drop off the parcels you send.

It comes in three forms:

• The retail pickup point: a tabac (tobacconist), a convenience store, a dry cleaner or a bookshop that partners with one or more networks. The shopkeeper hands you the parcel during opening hours.
• The parcel locker: a bank of lockers that you open yourself with a code or a QR code, often found in a station, a shopping centre or outside a shop.
• The post office and its variants (a local agence postale run by the town hall, or a relais poste counter inside a shop) for parcels sent with La Poste, the French postal service.

Each network gives its points a brand name, which causes a lot of confusion. Here are the main ones:

Pickup point, parcel locker, post office: what is the difference?

The difference is mainly who hands you the parcel, the opening hours and the holding period. La Poste's holding periods, confirmed by its help page, are a good example of the gap between a pickup point and a locker.

The detailed comparison, network by network, is in the guide pickup point or parcel locker: which to choose.

How does delivery to a pickup point work?

1. Choosing the point: when you order (or when you sell, on Vinted or Leboncoin, the French classifieds site), you choose a pickup point or a parcel locker from the list offered.
2. Transport: the carrier takes charge of the parcel. You can track a parcel with its tracking number.
3. Parcel ready: you receive a text message, an email or a notification with the address of the point, the collection code or a QR code, and the deadline.
4. Collection: at the counter or at the locker, with the code and, at a counter, often an ID.
5. After the deadline: a parcel that has not been collected normally goes back to the sender.

Collecting a parcel from a pickup point

What to show

At a counter, you are usually asked for the collection code received by text message or email, or the QR code shown in the app, and often an ID in the recipient's name. At a locker, you simply type in or scan the code on the screen. The exact rules vary by network: see what to show to collect a parcel.

How long is the parcel kept?

It depends on the carrier and the place. At La Poste, a Colissimo parcel (La Poste's parcel service) stays 14 days at a pickup point and 5 days in a Pickup Station locker, according to its help page. For other networks, see the holding period by carrier: the deadline in your message always prevails.

Having someone else collect your parcel

Each network sets its own conditions: the recipient's ID, a written authorisation, or simply passing on the code for a locker. At La Poste, they are detailed on this help page. See also having a parcel collected by someone else.

Collecting in the evening or on Sunday

Parcel lockers are often open every day. La Poste's lockers are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except those that follow the hours of a shopping arcade or a transport hub (La Poste). Some retail pickup points are also open on Sunday.

Pickup points open on Sunday in the largest cities:

• Open on Sunday in Paris
• Open on Sunday in Marseille
• Open on Sunday in Lyon
• Open on Sunday in Toulouse
• Open on Sunday in Nice
• Open on Sunday in Nantes
• Open on Sunday in Montpellier
• Open on Sunday in Strasbourg
• Open on Sunday in Bordeaux
• Open on Sunday in Lille
• All towns

Sending a parcel from a pickup point

The steps

1. Buy the label on the website of the carrier or of the selling platform, based on the weight and size of the parcel. To choose, compare parcel shipping prices.
2. Pack the parcel securely and stick the label on flat, without covering the barcode.
3. Drop it off at a point of the network shown on the label, during its opening hours, or in a parcel locker that accepts drop-offs.
4. Keep the drop-off receipt until delivery: it proves that the carrier has taken charge of the parcel.

Selling on Vinted or Leboncoin

The platform provides the label or the shipping code of the carrier chosen at the time of the sale: drop the parcel off at a point of that network. See sending a Vinted parcel, sending a Leboncoin parcel and the Vinted Go points.

Without a printer

Some carriers and platforms accept a code shown at the drop-off point instead of a printed label. The conditions differ from one network to another: check the page of your shipment. See sending a parcel without a printer.

Returning a purchase

First request the return on the seller's website: it tells you the network and how to drop the parcel off. At Amazon, returns are dropped off at a post office, at a participating Mondial Relay point or at a return kiosk in some shops, but not in an Amazon Locker (Amazon help). See returning a parcel via a pickup point.

Maximum size and weight

Each network sets a maximum weight and maximum dimensions, which are tighter for lockers, where the size of the compartments is the limit. Check them in the carrier's terms before packing: see maximum size and weight.

Pickup point networks in France

• Mondial Relay (InPost group): Points Relais® in shops and Lockers, widely used for online shopping and for parcels between private individuals.
• Colissimo and La Poste: post offices, agences postales run by town halls, relais poste counters, and for Colissimo the Pickup pickup points and lockers.
• Pickup: the La Poste group's network of pickup points and Pickup Station lockers, where Chronopost and DPD parcels are collected.
• Relais Colis: local shops, used by many online retailers for delivery and returns.
• UPS Access Point, GLS (ParcelShop), DHL (ServicePoint) and Colis Privé: partner shops and, for some of them, parcel lockers.
• Amazon Hub: Amazon Locker lockers and Hub Counter desks for collecting Amazon orders.
• Vinted Go: lockers and drop-off points designed for parcels between private individuals on Vinted.

Here is how many points of each network are listed in our directory. Mondial Relay and La Poste publish the full list of their points; for the other networks, we rely on OpenStreetMap, which only lists some of them.

Pros and cons of a pickup point

Pros

• No need to be at home: the parcel waits for you for several days.
• Shop opening hours, sometimes in the evening or on Sunday, and parcel lockers often open outside those hours.
• Sending to a pickup point often costs less than home delivery: compare shipping prices.

Cons

• A holding period that is sometimes short, especially in a locker.
• A pickup point can close for holidays or be full: the parcel is then redirected.
• Heavy or bulky parcels are not accepted everywhere, especially in lockers.

If something goes wrong

The pickup point is closed or full

When a pickup point closes, La Poste says the parcel is made available at another nearby point or returned to the sender, and that you are notified by email (La Poste). For other networks, track the parcel: the new point usually appears in the tracking. See pickup point closed or full.

The parcel is "available" but cannot be found

Ask the shopkeeper to search using the tracking number, then contact the seller or the platform and the carrier's customer service: only they can see the details of the shipment. See parcel not found at the pickup point.

Changing your pickup point

Depending on the carrier, a change of point may be offered in the tracking or in the app, but it is not always possible once the parcel is on its way. See changing your pickup point.

The parcel was not collected in time

It normally goes back to the sender. What happens next, including any refund, depends on the seller or the platform: see uncollected parcel.

Becoming a pickup point

Each network recruits its partner shops on its own website, with its own conditions on opening hours, storage and pay. See becoming a pickup point.

Do you run a pickup point and its listing on our site is wrong? Write to us at contact@relaisautourdemoi.fr, and see where our data comes from on the about page.