Part n Parcel vs Freightcom: Who Controls Your Shipping Rate?

By Paul Kalra, Founder, Part n Parcel

Quick answer: Freightcom is a freight-first shipping platform that also sells parcel labels at its own pre-negotiated rates. ClickShip is the same company: it is Freightcom’s shipping app for online stores. Part n Parcel opens carrier accounts in your business’s name at enterprise rates, and you print labels on them in your shipping software. On Freightcom, Freightcom sets your price and picks your carriers. On your own accounts, you do.

We make money when you move your shipping to accounts we manage. Our markup is shown to you before you commit. Check our numbers the way you would check anyone’s.

What is the difference between Freightcom and Part n Parcel?

The carrier moves your parcel, but you buy the label from Freightcom, at a price Freightcom sets. Its home page calls them “pre-negotiated rates.”

ClickShip, Freightcom’s app for online stores, lets you add one carrier account of your own: Canada Post, for $30 CAD a month.

Part n Parcel is a managed shipping economics company. We open direct accounts in your business’s name with carriers such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator, Canpar and regional carriers (carriers that serve one part of the country). Your rates come from the collective volume of 240+ Canadian brands. You print labels in your own software, most often ShipStation. We set it up and keep the rates working.

The Bring-Your-Own-Account Test: before you compare features, ask two questions. Is the carrier account in your business’s name, so the carrier knows who you are? And who sets the price on every label you print?

Whose customer are you on Freightcom?

Freightcom’s. A platform can print your business name on the label and still keep the account. When you buy Freightcom’s own labels, you are Freightcom’s customer. If a parcel goes missing or a charge looks wrong, the carrier deals with Freightcom and may not know who you are. On an account in your business’s name, you are on the carrier’s books, and we take the problem to the carrier for you.

A company whose product is your rate will price your rate to its business. I negotiate rates with carriers all the time. In my experience, a carrier will not set up a platform to undercut its own sales team, so it is careful about the rates it lets any platform sell online. On its own account, your business can often earn a lower rate.

You cannot see what other stores pay. Carriers do not publish what they charge each business, and a platform’s price is the one it chose for you today. On an account in your name, your rates are in your carrier agreement and you see every line. We price your parcels on the rates the collective volume of 240+ Canadian brands earns, and show you the gap line by line.

What Freightcom customers say when it goes wrong: one wrote in September 2026 that you “can prepay around $40 for shipping and duty, then get hit with another $200–$300 CAD in charges weeks later” (Trustpilot). Another, in May 2026: “they advertise a low up front shipping label cost but the shipping label is constantly adjusted months after purchase” (Trustpilot). An adjustment is an extra charge added after you buy the label, often because the carrier re-measured your box.

Who sets your price on Freightcom?

Freightcom does. When a platform sells you its own rates, it decides three things you never see: the price, its margin, and which carriers show up on your screen. It can change any of the three.

I said this to a merchant on a call in February, and I still think it is the whole issue: “They have no loyalty. They can change the rate tomorrow.”

Shipping is often one of the biggest costs on your order. When someone else sets that price, they can move it without asking you.

What did a merchant who left Freightcom find?

An Ottawa apparel and wholesale brand moved from Freightcom to accounts in its own name with FedEx, Canpar and Purolator, printed in ShipStation. Its shipping cost fell 42.5%. The move took 14 days (case study). In their words, before the move: “Shipping was our biggest variable cost, and we had zero control over rate changes.” They were also worried about late pickups before weekends.

Your result depends on your parcels, where they go and what you pay now.

What does the gap look like on a real invoice?

We looked at 22,353 parcels shipped within Canada by 11 merchants from January to May 2026. The median (middle) parcel cost $15.84 on what the merchant actually paid and $11.03 on a Part n Parcel managed account. That is a 30.4% gap, taxes and duties excluded (Canadian e-commerce shipping cost benchmarks). At 10 parcels a shipping day over 250 shipping days, $4.81 a parcel is $12,025 a year. At 100, it is $120,250.

Three things move your number.

Signature and extras. One merchant ran their own test on 13 shipments and found a 10% saving, half what they expected. Then they saw that the Freightcom quote they compared against left out the signature charge. With the signature counted on both sides, the gap was much closer to 20%. Compare the same services on both sides, or the comparison is wrong.

Carrier mix. Your carrier mix is which carriers you use, and on which lanes. A lane is a route, such as Toronto to Calgary. In October we looked at a fulfilment warehouse (a 3PL) that ships some of its volume through Freightcom. It sent 5,144 parcels for $82,533, an average of $16.04. Adding one regional carrier for local lanes cut that by 22.1%. A mix of three carriers took the average to $10.97, 31.6% less. That saving came from choosing which carrier runs which lane. You cannot do that when the platform decides what you see.

Weight. In our re-priced invoices, light and mid-weight parcels shipped within Canada show the biggest gap.

Do this now: open your last Freightcom invoice and write down your three most common parcels, by weight and destination province. That sample will tell you more than any average on this page.

Want this number for your own parcels? Send one Freightcom invoice and your savings report comes back line by line. Free, no call.

What happens to your carrier mix on Freightcom?

On Freightcom, you get the carriers Freightcom offers, at the prices it sets. On your own accounts, you choose which carrier runs each lane, and you can move a lane by changing one automation rule.

Carriers get better and worse, most of all at peak season and with smaller carriers. When Canada Post stopped work from November 15 to December 17, 2024, merchants with only one carrier had nowhere to go. This is how I explain it on calls: “Canada Post goes on strike, you need to change your carrier mix. There’s a peak fee, you need to change your carrier mix.” Your customer’s delivery should not depend on someone else’s carrier list.

Should you buy shipping insurance through Freightcom?

Think hard before you do. In my view, platforms treat insurance as a profit centre. You buy it with the label, at the platform’s price, and a claim runs through the platform’s policy. That policy is not the same as the carrier’s, and in my view the gap between the two is where claims fall through. One Freightcom customer wrote in October 2026 that “buying extra insurance means nothing because Freightcom has different policies than the actual shipping company” (Trustpilot). Freightcom replied that the goods were excluded under its insurance terms.

Two rules I give every merchant:

1. Buy insurance through your own business insurance broker or a third-party shipping insurance app, not through the platform that sells you the label.
2. Insure only when it costs less than resending the orders you would lose. For example, insuring 1,000 parcels at $2 each costs $2,000. If 5 of those parcels go missing at $150 each, resending them costs $750.

How do you avoid costly mistakes when you switch?

We know the carriers and the software, so we help you avoid costly mistakes. We have seen merchants test a new carrier on their own. Their customer service issues skyrocketed. Their accountant had far more billing questions. Their own time went to backtracking. We set it up right so you avoid that.

As I tell every merchant we set up, our approach is to build you to scale and avoid dropping off any packages. Your hour is worth more spent on the business than in a depot line.

When should you stay on Freightcom?

Stay while you are still finding product-market fit, the stage where you are proving people want what you sell. Your early customers buy on the value of your product, and we do not want to distract you from that. Once shipping is a real cost, test us.

How do you test Part n Parcel without leaving Freightcom?

Send us one recent Freightcom invoice. A month of invoices in one file, or a shipment export, works best.

You are probably thinking this means a week of broken labels in your busy season, and a sales call you did not ask for. It does not. You keep Freightcom until the numbers say otherwise. We send back, line by line, what the same parcels would cost on accounts in your business’s name, with insurance and signatures priced on both sides. If the gap is small, you stay where you are, and it cost you one email.

How it works:

1. Send one Freightcom invoice. Not sure which file? Let ChatGPT or Claude find it.
2. Your savings report comes back line by line: every parcel priced on accounts in your name.
3. If the number is worth it, we set up the accounts. If it is not, you stay where you are.

Free. No call. If we cannot meaningfully improve your rates, we will tell you.

Frequently asked questions

Is shipping cheaper on my own carrier account than on Freightcom?

In my experience, often yes. A carrier will not set up a platform to undercut its own sales team, so on its own account your business can often earn a lower rate. In our benchmark of 22,353 parcels, the median parcel cost 30.4% less on a Part n Parcel managed account than what merchants paid. Your parcels decide your number, and one Freightcom invoice shows it.

Can I test Part n Parcel without leaving Freightcom?

Yes. You keep shipping on Freightcom while we price your parcels on accounts in your name. If the number is not worth it, you stay where you are.

Which Freightcom file should I send?

A month of Freightcom invoices in one file, or a shipment export, works best. One recent invoice is enough to start. Not sure where to find it? Let ChatGPT or Claude find it.

I use ClickShip. Does this page apply to me?

Yes. ClickShip calls itself “a product of Freightcom.” Same company, same business of selling you labels at its own prices. Its pricing page shows one way to use your own account: Canada Post, for $30 CAD a month. See Part n Parcel vs ClickShip.

Will my store or shipping software change?

Your store stays the same. Labels print on your accounts in shipping software such as ShipStation, which connects to Shopify and most other online stores. We do the setup. The Ottawa apparel and wholesale brand above made the move in 14 days.

Whose name is on the carrier account?

Your business’s. The carrier knows who you are, your rates are in your carrier agreement, and when something goes wrong we take it to the carrier for you.

Sources

1. Freightcom home page, freightcom.com, checked Oct 30, 2026. Freightcom carrier partners, freightcom.com/carrier-partners, checked Oct 28, 2026. Canada Post as a Freightcom carrier: Part n Parcel’s experience with Freightcom shippers.
2. ClickShip pricing, clickship.com/pricing, checked Oct 28, 2026.
3. Part n Parcel, Canadian e-commerce shipping cost benchmarks, January to May 2026 data.
4. Part n Parcel case study, Ottawa apparel and wholesale brand, partnparcel.com/case-study/canadian-apparel-fashion-shipping-optimization/.
5. Part n Parcel sales records and invoice re-rates, 2021 to October 2026. Merchants anonymized. Rates pre-tax.

Related: Part n Parcel vs ShipStation, Chit Chats and Stallion Express alternatives, How to audit your shipping invoice, Case studies.