The transportation of parcels with things for those who are abroad or for those who remained at home is a very popular service in Moldova given that practically each family here has someone working abroad. The charges for delivering parcels usually reach the pockets of unauthorized carriers at a time when the tariffs for authorized delivery services can exceed the value of parcels for several times. However, no guarantees as to the safe transportation of the parcel are provided in the case of unauthorized delivery.

With Moldova’s Post Office, a parcel weighing 5 kg is transported to Italy at the price of about 700 lei, while with delivery services like DHL of over 3,000 lei. The private carriers charge €1-1.5 per kg of parcel. These charges are also applied in the case of such destinations as Belgium, Germany and the UK. To the capital of Russia, the unauthorized carriers transport parcels for 300-500 lei per about 5kg, or 500-3,000 Russian rubles. 

The conductors on train routes to Russia charge 200-300 lei, but the tariff can be yet negotiated. Contacted by de IPN, director of Moldova’s Railways Iurii Topala said they thought up a project to launch an official railway parcel delivery service. “We have thought long to end this illegal parcel delivery practice and are now coordinating the transformation of a passenger section into a baggage car with the neighboring states Ukraine and Russia,” he stated, adding that if the project is implemented, those who transmit parcels will pay a fixed tariff at the ticket offices of Moldova’s Railways.

Iurii Topala expressed his confidence that the neighboring states will allow to transport parcels through modified train cars. Russia uses such a method at internal level.