Czech parcel lockers before Christmas: new storage times and prices

Ahead of Black Friday and the Christmas season, the biggest Czech carriers — Zásilkovna, PPL, DPD, GLS and Balíkovna — have changed how they operate. From 9 November, Zásilkovna is cutting the storage time for parcels at regular pick-up points to four days, and the last day for Christmas delivery in Czechia is 23 December 2026.

How long a parcel waits at a pick-up point or locker

From 9 November, Zásilkovna is shortening the standard storage period at staffed pick-up points to four days on which the point is open. It can be extended by a maximum of two more days, so up to six. The company says this is to free up space for new parcels. For Z-BOX lockers the period stays the same, three calendar days, but it can now be extended by one day, to four.

PPL keeps the standard three days in its lockers, but through the mojePPL app the period can be extended by two, four or six days — and repeatedly, up to 33 days in total. The extension is paid for by card or with bonus points from the app. At DPD, the standard storage time in lockers is 48 hours, and it can now be extended to five days. According to the company, more than three thousand customers used the service in the first few days of testing.

The Christmas delivery deadline

Zásilkovna and PPL have confirmed the same last delivery day — Wednesday, 23 December 2026 — to Z-BOX lockers, pick-up points and home addresses. What counts is not the order date but the day the online shop actually hands the parcel to the carrier. The hand-over deadline is 21 December for Zásilkovna and Tuesday, 22 December for PPL. Many shops state on their own websites the date by which you need to order for the parcel to be dispatched in time.

What's new in the apps and services

Zásilkovna has updated its mobile app, which more than two million people use every month. You can now redirect a parcel to another Z-BOX or pick-up point in a couple of taps while it is still in transit. There is also a personal recipient QR code, Zásilkovna ID: you can send it to anyone who wants to ship you something, and your details are filled in automatically. Returns are also getting simpler — through the app, or with guidance on the rules of the specific shop.

PPL lets you choose a favourite pick-up point, where a parcel will be placed the same day if you cannot collect it from the locker in time. You can also now link two e-mail addresses, for example a personal and a work one, and see all your parcels in one place. DPD gives a day's notice of delivery and, in the morning, sends a two-hour window in which the courier will leave the parcel in its place. Previously this worked only for home delivery.

Since September, GLS has also delivered on Saturdays across Czechia, with no express surcharge. The shop must hand the parcel to the carrier by Friday at the latest and offer this option at checkout. Balíkovna has brought back the option “Drop the parcel straight at the post office/Balíkovna”.

Delivery is getting more expensive

A new Balíkovna price list has been in effect since November. Sending a parcel to a pick-up point or locker costs 89 crowns without cash on delivery and 108 crowns with it, while home delivery costs 139 crowns, or 158 crowns with cash on delivery. Unregistered customers pay an extra 10 crowns.

According to the October Skip Pay Index of delivery prices, delivery from online shops is more expensive than a year ago: even after two months of falling prices, the average price has not dropped below 80 crowns. David Filippov of Skip Pay says prices can fall even without carrier discounts if more people choose cheaper lockers and pick-up points. Black Friday and the pre-Christmas season will show what role delivery prices play for shoppers.

The locker boom

Lockers are rapidly gaining popularity. According to PPL’s E-Commerce Trends Report (the data was collected by the agency Kantar), 56 percent of Czech online shoppers most often choose locker delivery. In 2023 the figure was 18 percent, and the European average is now 25 percent.

Nearly 6,800 Z-BOX lockers with about 700,000 compartments make up Zásilkovna’s own network, the largest in the country. Two thirds of its parcels go to lockers. At Alza, more than half of orders are sent to lockers, and at Pilulka the share has grown from about 15 to more than 40 percent in a year. There are now around 17,000 lockers across Czechia, and operators estimate there could be 30 percent more — especially in villages of up to five thousand residents, which do not have any compartments yet.

Ondřej Luštinec, a spokesman for Packeta, assured customers that the company is ready for the season: over the past 90 days, more than 98 percent of parcels in Czechia were delivered the day after being handed over to the depot.

Around Prague, based on reporting by denik.cz