Shipping Packages Inside Colombia: Servientrega, Inter Rapidísimo, and Coordinadora Guide

Quick answer: documents and parcels up to 5 kg travel as mensajería expresa. Anything heavier is cargo, and a sofa or a household is a move, not a parcel. Cash, passports and uninsured jewelry stay out of the box entirely.

Most people learn this at the counter, with a queue behind them, when the clerk reweighs the box and the price jumps. I would rather you learn it here. Below: what to bring, how each carrier's tracking works, how declared value really behaves, and where couriers are the wrong tool.

What you need at the counter

Have the recipient's full name, a mobile number, the city, the barrio and a real street address. Colombian addresses trip up newcomers constantly, so write yours the way our address format guide explains it, with tower, apartment and building details.

Under Ley 1369 de 2009, express mail must carry an individual guía, a copy of the admission receipt on the item, proof of delivery (date, time, who received it) and tracking from receipt to delivery. Pickup at your address is part of the definition when you request it.

Keep the receipt. The guía number printed on it is your only tracking key, and without it the carriers will not let you look the shipment up online.

How tracking actually works

Each company has its own public tracker, and the number format differs:

• Servientrega: the guía is printed at the upper right of the invoice. Type it with no spaces or hyphens.
• Coordinadora: the single-shipment tool asks for an 11-digit guía.
• Inter Rapidísimo: accepts up to five guía numbers separated by commas, and lets you change the destination address once the carrier has the package.
• Envía: track from the number on the counter receipt or the email or SMS confirmation.

If Coordinadora shows a novedad, do not panic. It means an exception interrupted the normal delivery path, such as a bad address, a delay or a documentation problem. Open the guía history and contact the sender or the carrier.

Declared value and who pays if it is lost

This is where the law splits in two, and mixing the halves up is the classic mistake.

Up to 5 kg (mensajería expresa): under article 25 of Ley 1369, domestic indemnity for loss or damage is five times the tariff you paid, up to a maximum of one current monthly legal minimum wage, plus the insured value of the shipment. That is not full replacement of whatever you wrote on the form.

Heavier merchandise: Coordinadora's page says merchandise is answered up to the declared value under Código de Comercio articles 1031 and 1032. Article 1010 requires the sender to give recipient, place, nature, value, count, weight and volume, and makes you liable for missing or false data. Under-declaring to save a few pesos is a bad bet.

One practical downside: Coordinadora states it will not accept a claim after the recipient has signed the delivery record. Inspect the box before you sign.

Weight versus size

Counters bill the greater of scale weight and volumetric weight. Coordinadora's rule is height × width × length in centimeters divided by 2,500. A light but bulky box can cost like a heavy one, which is why the counter quote often beats your home estimate downward and then climbs.

Coordinadora's tariff page (accessed 19 October 2026, no effective date shown) lists document-and-package fares by zone letter L / R / N / Z / O / E:

Handling is 1% of declared value. For 1–2 kg the maximum edge is 50 cm, one unit per guía, and documents are capped at a COP 200,000 declared value. I am not matching letters to cities; use Coordinadora's own cotizador for your route.

Four carriers, four ways to hand over the box

Servientrega. It publishes no national rate card on the pages I checked; its Bogotá page says price depends on origin, weight and dimensions, so get a quote before dispatch. Inside Bogotá, its Ya Mismo service promises motorcycle pickup in under 1 hour and delivery within a maximum of 2 hours, for items up to 40 cm and 20 kg, subject to availability. That same page also says same-day pickup and delivery in under 3 hours "según condiciones." Those are that page's conditions, not a nationwide guarantee. From principal cities into Bogotá it cites an average of 24 hours; farther origins vary.

Inter Rapidísimo. Its published 2025–2026 rate card ran out on 13 July 2026, so I will not repeat its numbers. Use the live cotizador on interrapidisimo.com for a current price.

Coordinadora. It says it reaches every department, but this service is for urban addresses with an identifiable street nomenclature. Read delivery days from its own time tool. Its prohibited list is longer than the legal minimum: dangerous goods, perishable food, securities, cash, bearer checks, airline tickets, passports, jewelry, art and weapons.

Envía. Prepare the parcel, quote it, drop it at a service point or request a pickup where available, then track the guía. Its homepage cites about 1,000 service points and more than 1,400 national destinations. The online quote is approximate and can change with the package's final physical condition. Its published head office is Carrera 88 #17B-10, Bogotá, but that is headquarters, not your drop-off counter. Make sure you are on envia.co, not the unrelated envia.com platform.

Contraentrega without the myths

With contraentrega the recipient pays for the goods at the door and the carrier deposits the money to the seller. On Servientrega, the product value is collected at delivery, by cash or datáfono on its Bogotá page, and deposited to the account you indicate, but the freight must be paid at the origin CDS. Coordinadora describes collection in cash or by card, then transfer to the seller.

I will not quote commission percentages because the carriers do not publish them on the pages I used; ask before you commit. A guía number is also not proof anyone has paid you. If you sell regularly, read our guide to selling contraentrega.

When to stop using a courier

Servientrega's traditional merchandise on its Bogotá page tops out at 20 kg, and anything above 5 kg is outside the express-mail definition. A sofa, a fridge or an apartment's worth of boxes belongs with a small-truck mover. According to active listings on Colombia Move (18 October 2026), the mudanzas category has 3 active service listings. Our acarreos and trasteos guide covers permits and tipping. Packages coming from a US forwarder are a different story, covered in the casillero mail guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ What is a número de guía, and where do I type it?

It is the carrier's tracking number for that piece, and each company has its own public tracker. Servientrega wants no spaces or hyphens, Coordinadora 11 digits, Inter Rapidísimo accepts up to five separated by commas, and Envía uses the receipt or confirmation number.

❓ Does declared value mean the carrier replaces my laptop?

Not necessarily. For express mail up to 5 kg, the legal indemnity is five times the tariff you paid, capped at one current monthly minimum wage, plus whatever value was actually insured. For heavier cargo, do not under-declare. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Can I ship cash, a passport, or jewelry inside Colombia?

No for cash, passports and uninsured jewelry or valuables. The CRC prohibited list covers uninsured cash, bearer instruments and jewelry, and Coordinadora also refuses passports, airline tickets, perishable food, art and weapons. Use a bank transfer instead of cash. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Who pays the freight on contraentrega?

The recipient pays for the goods at delivery, and on Servientrega the shipper still pays the freight at the origin counter. Commission rates are not published on the carrier pages used for this guide, so ask before shipping. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ Why did the counter charge more than the website quote?

The counter reweighs the box and can bill volumetric size instead of the weight you typed. Coordinadora charges the greater of scale weight and volumetric weight; with the other carriers, re-quote with exact box dimensions. Envía's quote is explicitly approximate. (verify with the official source, as accessed)

❓ The tracking says novedad. Did they lose it?

Usually not. A novedad means something stopped normal delivery, often the address or a failed attempt, not that the box is lost. Read the scan history in the tracker, then contact the sender or the carrier with your guía number.

❓ Is a courier the right way to send a sofa to another city?

No. A sofa is a move, not a 5 kg express shipment, and express mail is legally defined up to 5 kg. Hire a small-truck mover who can quote the load, as explained in the moving section above. (verify with the official source, as accessed)