Which Is The Best Courier Delivery Service In Malaysia?
Table of Contents
You know how it works, you see something on sale online and buy it. It might be something you really need or it might be an impulse buy. Either way, you start wondering about which courier delivery service ends up with the package.
After all, you’ve heard the horror stories of packages being destroyed in transit by services. In the end, you just sit back and hope for the best.
In 2020, around 438.96 million domestic courier items were delivered by courier service providers in Malaysia; driven by an explosion in e-commerce activity. It’s almost double the amount of items from the previous year, and follows the trend of deliveries doubling every two years.
Courier delivery services are more in demand than ever as more people and businesses need to get parcels and documents from one person or place to another as fast as possible.
However, for users like us, perhaps this raises the question; which courier service is the best in the market, or at least the most consistent?
That’s the question we’ll try to answer in this article today. So let’s get to it.
| Price (starts from) | Coverage | Delivery time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| J&T | RM5.00 | Whole of Malaysia, and selected international destinations | 2-3 days for WM, 2-5 days for EM. Varies for international shipping. |
| Pos Laju | RM7.00 | Whole of Malaysia, and selected international destinations | 1-3 days for WM, 3-5 days for EM. Varies for international shipping. |
| Skynet | RM6.50 | Whole of Malaysia, and selected international destinations | 1-3 days for any major town in Malaysia, 1-5 days for non-major towns in Malaysia. Varies for international shipping. |
| GDex | RM10.15 | Whole of Malaysia, and selected international destinations. | 1-3 days for any major town in Malaysia, 1-5 days for non-major towns in Malaysia. Varies for international shipping. Same day door to door delivery is also offered. |
| City-Link | RM6.15 | Whole of Malaysia, and selected international destinations. | 1-3 days for any destination in Malaysia. Varies for international shipping |
| Ninja Van | RM5.00 | Whole of Malaysia, and the whole of South East Asia. | Within 3 working days for standard delivery. Delivery time varies for international destinations. |
| DHL | Starts very high | Whole of Malaysia, and selected international destinations | 1-3 days for any destination in Malaysia. Varies for international shipping. |
| Fedex | RM55 | No intra-country delivery in Malaysia. Delivers internationally | Varies for international shipping. |
Note: For the purpose of this article, this list does not include delivery services that deliver food and groceries through e-hailing platforms like Grab or Lalamove.
J&T Express
The good
So the first courier service we’re going to look at is J&T Express, which is perhaps the most popular courier service in Malaysia.
What makes it so popular? Well, perhaps the best part of J&T Express is it’s widely available. It doesn’t matter where in Malaysia you are, you can just use their location services and chances are, you’d probably find an outlet right near you.
Even on the off chance that there are no outlets near you, you can just go to any Parcelhub office and you will find J&T services right there for you.
Another plus for J&T Express is that their prices are one of the lowest, if not the lowest for any available courier service in Malaysia.
According to J&T Express Kelantan & Terengganu, pricing for their courier services starts from RM5, which explains why they are so popular among online sellers.
The bad
While J&T services are cheap, their reputation has been less than stellar when it comes to quality of service.
Stories have surfaced about missing parcels and deliveries being stuck at the hub for weeks on end. Ideally, you should use J&T for deliveries that are not urgent or items that are not fragile.
Pos Laju / Pos Malaysia
The good
As a subsidiary of Pos Malaysia, Pos Laju’s biggest strength is that they offer different types of delivery services: Mail delivery, Parcel delivery, and Pos Laju delivery.
This provides the customer with the option to choose what kind of delivery they want to use, depending on what kind of shipping they need. Another aspect where Pos Laju shines has to be the delivery area they cover. Unlike other courier companies, Pos Laju covers a lot more countries in their international delivery distances. Their international delivery covers almost every country in the world.
The bad
There isn’t much of a drawback for using Pos Laju. If we’re really nitpicking, then perhaps the pricing, as J&T Express still has them beat there. It can also take you longer to receive or send your parcel, as Pos Laju’s delivery time is longer than other options.
Ideal for
Ideal for people who are looking to send registered mail and important documents. If you want to send bigger parcels, then other courier services might be a better choice for you.
Skynet Express
The good
For Skynet, there is one thing that separates it from all the other courier services out there, and that is its operating hours. Skynet is the only courier service that offers 24/7 services, which means that you can deliver your package at any time of the day, any day except on public holidays.
Skynet also offers extensive coverage for their international destinations, which means that you won’t have to worry about your destination not being on their radar if you’re shipping internationally.
The bad
One drawback from using Skynet Express is that it can be a little more expensive compared to its peers. J&T Express’ pricing starts from only RM5, but Skynet starts at RM6.50. If you’re looking for the cheapest courier service in the market, then this is not it.
Ideal for
People who need off hours delivery. If you need to send packages at odd hours, then Skynet really is your only choice.
GD Express
The good
GDex is one of the most popular courier services in Malaysia, with good reason. GDex’s main draw is the fact that they offer a door to door, same day delivery service, which is a premium service they offer for people who need it.
GDex also is one of the very few courier services that can handle bulk and large shipping, which makes it one of the best options for wholesalers and big ecommerce platforms.
The bad
One thing that pops out the most when discussing GDex has to be their pricing. As mentioned above, the pricing for GDex starts from RM10.15, which is on the very expensive side. This means that for normal deliveries, GDex might not be the option that you’re looking for.
The ideal
GDex’s service is ideal for wholesalers and big ecommerce platforms, due to the fact that they provide bulk and large shippings. Their same day delivery services are also very ideal for people with urgent documents to send.
City-Link Express
The good
Now moving on to a Malaysian-founded courier service, City-Link Express. City-Link Express is very popular due to its Application Programming Interface (API) integration for ecommerce website development, which makes it very easy for online sellers to use.
City-Link also offers very competitive prices, although not the cheapest, starting at RM6.15.
Another advantage of City-Link is that using them for international deliveries is very convenient, as they will handle all the customs paperwork for you. They also offer a Parcelguard service to protect your valuable and fragile parcels.
The bad
City-Link outlets might not be as readily available for you as other courier services, so you might have to resort to a third party service like Parcelhub if you’re looking to use them.
Ideal for
Online shopping platforms.
Ninja Van
The good
Ninja Van has made it’s reputation as one of the biggest competitors for J&T Express in Malaysia, especially among sellers in e-commerce platforms, such as Shopee.
And the reason for this is simple, it’s because Ninja Van is the only courier service in Malaysia with a price point that is comparable with J&T Express, which starts at RM5.00.
They are also very reliable and quick with their services, as they promise in their Terms of Service that any package that is sent using their Standard package will be sent within three working days.
So if you’re a seller looking to reliably ship your products, you can’t go wrong with Ninja Van.
The bad
As you can see in the table above, Ninja Van pales compared to it’s competitors in one aspect and one aspect only, and that is the international destinations they offer.
Ninja Van only offers international deliveries to South East Asia, so if you want to ship your package internationally, you will have to look for another courier service.
Ideal for
Sellers on e-commerce platforms.
DHL Malaysia
The good
Ask anyone to list down the courier services that they know, chances are that DHL will be part of the list. That’s how popular DHL is, and for good reason. DHL is one of the biggest courier services in the world, and it’s also garnering quite a number of users in Malaysia as well.
With DHL, one of the biggest advantages is the security it offers your packages. Being one of the biggest courier services in the world, DHL is always looking out for their customers, and they do that by ensuring that your package is delivered in pristine condition, no matter where the destination is.
DHL also offers additional insurance for your package, in case you might want extra peace of mind. And for environmentalists, they also offer a GoGreen Climate Neutral, which will offset the carbon emissions from your delivery.
The bad
With DHL, the bad is really easy to see, which is the pricing. The pricing is really expensive, and from our testing with their rate calculator, even a document from Batu Caves to Kuala Lumpur can cost around RM79.14.
Ideal for
DHL is ideal for really expensive packages, as they provide extra security for your products.
FedEx
The good
FedEx is one of the foremost names in the courier industry, so it won’t do for us to complete this article without mentioning them.
So in Malaysia, FedEx is one of the best courier services, due to all the options they offer their customers. They offer different types of delivery services depending on the type of delivery you want, the package you’re sending, how urgent the delivery is and more..
Their pricing is also not that bad, starting from RM110 for a delivery from Malaysia to Singapore. And just like DHL, FedEx is an internationally recognized courier company, so if you’re looking to have things delivered to and from international addresses, then you can’t go wrong with FedEx.
The bad
FedEx doesn’t offer intra-country deliveries for Malaysia, which means FedEx is not a viable option if you’re looking to deliver stuff in Malaysia.
Ideal for
International shipping, especially for expensive and valuable packages.
Conclusion
So that’s it for our list of courier services in Malaysia. If you’re looking to deliver a package somewhere, you can check out this list to help you make a decision on which courier service to use.
There are other types of on-demand delivery, parcel pickup and dropoffs, delivery vehicle booking, prepaid mailers and others that cater more to business owners that we have not included in this list which is primarily for retail users like you and me.
