Shipping with Poste Italiane: Crono, Crono Express, Crono Internazionale and more

Poste Italiane's ecommerce services are mainly 3: Crono, Crono Express and Poste Delivery.

If you have an online store and are thinking about integrating Poste Italiane to manage your shipments, this article is for you. We'll explain everything you need to know about ecommerce shipping with Poste Italiane: services, features and costs.

If instead you want to start shipping your products right away, here's how you can integrate Poste Italiane into your ecommerce store.

In the meantime, here's today's article index:

1. Shipping with Poste Italiane: a premise

2. Ecommerce shipping with Poste Italiane

3. Crono

4. Crono Express

5. Crono Internazionale

6. Poste Delivery Business

7. Pieghi di libri

8. Reverse

Shipping with Poste Italiane: a premise

Shipping with Poste Italiane means relying on one of Italy's biggest players in the logistics, financial and insurance sector, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022.

The company has invested heavily in online commerce, and today offers multiple shipping services designed to meet the different needs of every type of business, from large companies to small entrepreneurs in the start-up phase.

Ecommerce shipping with Poste Italiane

If you want to make Poste Italiane your ecommerce carrier, you can choose from several shipping services.

Depending on your volume, business areas and specific needs, you can choose the Poste Italiane ecommerce services best suited to your business.

To help you plan your ecommerce logistics, we'll explain each of these shipping services in detail, with information on costs and the benefits for your business.

Crono

Crono is one of the most widely used ecommerce shipping services. If your online store needs to handle non-urgent parcel shipments within Italy up to 30 kg, Poste Italiane's Crono is the right service.

Crono guarantees delivery within 4 business days across the whole country, with the choice between home delivery or pickup at post offices or PuntoPoste locations.

Here are the other main features of Poste Italiane's Crono service:

• billing based on actual weight rather than volumetric weight

• 2 automatic delivery attempts

• free storage at the post office if the recipient is not available

• the option to customize delivery

• no surcharges for deliveries to Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia and remote areas

Crono shipping: costs

The reference prices for Crono service customers are as follows:

• 0-2 kg: 6,20 €

• 2-5 kg: 7,40 €

• 5-10 kg: 12,35 €

• 10-20 kg: 14,85 €

• 20-30 kg: 18.10 €

Crono Express

Poste Italiane's Crono Express, on the other hand, is the ideal solution for ecommerce businesses looking for a fast and affordable shipping service across the whole country.

Compared to the Crono service, Crono Express has the advantage of faster delivery times: parcels up to 30 kg are delivered throughout Italy (including the islands) within 1-2 business days.

Again with the option to choose between home delivery, delivery to one of the 10,000 authorized post offices, or to a PuntoPoste location.

Among the add-on services available with Crono Express is flexible delivery based on the customer's own needs: on a set day and time, on Saturdays, in the evening, by appointment, or to a neighbor.

You can also take advantage of cash on delivery shipping and shipment insurance.

Poste Italiane Crono Express service costs

The service prices depend on the weight of the parcels shipped with Poste Italiane:

• 0-2 kg: 8,65 €

• 2-5 kg: 10,45 €

• 5-10 kg: 12,35 €

• 10-20 kg: 14,85 €

• 20-30 kg: 18,10 €

Included in the service cost are two automatic delivery attempts if the recipient is not available and, if unsuccessful, free storage at the post office.

Crono Internazionale

Crono Internazionale is the all-inclusive solution for shipping abroad with Poste Italiane in a simple and reliable way.

With Crono Express you can ship parcels up to 30 kg to over 200 countries, both in Europe and the rest of the world, with delivery times ranging from 3 to 5 business days.

As with Crono ecommerce shipping services, up to two delivery attempts are guaranteed, followed by free storage at the post office for 15 days.

Delivery can be made to the recipient's home or to the foreign post office.

Among the paid add-on services available with Crono Internazionale are:

• insurance

• Smart Alert: the company and the customer are informed about the shipment status via SMS and/or email

• POD: paper proof of delivery

Poste Italiane Crono Internazionale service costs

Prices for shipping with Poste Italiane using the Crono Internazionale service vary depending on the weight of the parcel and the delivery zone; below we break down the rates by shipping zone.

An image of the Sendcloud panel, the shipping platform we'll tell you about at the end of this article

Poste Delivery Business

Poste Delivery Business is Poste Italiane's latest ecommerce shipping service and is designed for customers who need to ship documents and goods to businesses and individuals, in Italy and the rest of the world.

A package of shipping services that share some common features:

• the wide range of delivery location options (home delivery, post offices, Lockers, shops and tobacconists).

• The full range of add-on services, including Scheduled Delivery, which lets the recipient choose a specific day and time, including evenings and Saturdays, and the Same Day Delivery service, which allows the product ordered online to be received on the same day the purchase is made (between 7pm and 11pm), plus the oversized shipments option.

• The option to activate the Reserve option, which we'll discuss in more detail later in this article, to manage ecommerce returns.

Poste Delivery Business products

With Poste Delivery Business, the customer can choose between four different options, depending on the preferred delivery speed and destination.

Poste Delivery Business Standard

Designed for non-urgent shipments within Italy, with delivery times within 4 business days.

Unlike Poste Italiane's Crono service, this product allows multi-parcel shipments with no weight or size limits.

Delivery, which can be customized, can take place at a post office, at home, or at PuntoPoste locations.

Poste Delivery Business International Standard

Allows ecommerce businesses to ship one or more parcels abroad with Poste Italiane, in a single shipment, weighing up to 70 kg.

Delivery times range from 3 to 5 business days, and delivery is possible at home, at over 70,000 foreign post offices, and, in eligible countries, at Lockers and proximity points.

Poste Delivery Business Express

Compared to the Standard version, what changes is the shipping speed: the Express product is designed for urgent deliveries within Italy, in 1-2 business days.

Also worth noting are the add-on services available to meet the recipient's needs, with many options for customizing delivery even while it's already underway.

Poste Delivery Business International Express

Poste Italiane's fast and versatile solution for online stores that need to ship abroad.

Available in over 200 countries around the world,

Poste Delivery Business International Express is designed for handling international shipments with multiple parcels and no weight or size limits.

Delivery times range from 1 to 4 business days and customs clearance operations are included in the service cost.

Cost of Poste Delivery Business services

Here's a summary of the prices for the different products in the Poste Delivery Business range.

Poste Delivery Business Standard and Express prices

Poste Delivery Business International Standard and Express prices

These are the prices for shipping parcels between 0,5 and 70 kg with the two Delivery Business services for international shipments, depending on the zone.

Pieghi di libri

Pieghi di libri is the Poste Italiane product designed for shipping books.

It allows you to ship one or more books anywhere in Italy, weighing up to 5 kg, with delivery guaranteed within 4-6 business days.

Books can be shipped either in paper format or as a CD-ROM or DVD. Rectangular or cylindrical packages are allowed.

You can customize the shipment with some paid add-on services, such as registered handling, the notice of receipt, and cash on delivery.

Poste Italiane Pieghi di libri shipping costs

For sending books up to 2kg, the shipping price is 1,28 €, while for packages weighing between 2 and 5 kg, the rate is 3,95 €.

Before preparing your shipment, you should know that the package must necessarily follow one of the 2 formats required by Poste Italiane, and be careful not to exceed the permitted dimensions.

• Rectangular format: the package must have a length between 9 and 45 cm, a height between 14 and 45 cm, and a depth greater than 0.05 cm and less than 5 cm.

• Cylindrical format: a diameter of between 10 x 3,5 cm (length and diameter) and 100 x 10 cm is allowed.

When everything is ready, also make sure the package is easily inspectable and don't forget to add "Piego di libri" on the side with the sender's and recipient's details. Your package containing books will reach the recipient within 5 business days.

Reverse

To manage ecommerce returns with Poste Italiane in a simple and convenient way, you can use Delivery Business Reverse, which lets you send your customers the shipping document for returning items purchased online, if needed.

The buyer can easily make the return, thanks to the option of choosing between home pickup or pickup at a post office or Punto Poste.

For shipments within Italy, there's also the Paperless option, with no need to print the waybill.

Shipping with Poste Italiane is better with Sendcloud

In this article, we've tried to give a comprehensive overview of Poste Italiane's ecommerce services.

If you're thinking about integrating it into your ecommerce store, visit the page we suggested earlier in this article, right before the index.

Or create your free account with the ecommerce shipping platform, Sendcloud!

With Sendcloud you'll be able to:

and much, much more...

How does Sendcloud work? Find out in 1 minute!

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