Cost to Send a Box from the USA to Guatemala

Sending a box to Guatemala can mean paying for a particular box, paying for its weight, or prepaying a balance with a forwarding service. Those prices need different comparisons: the freight rate alone does not tell you what the recipient will pay.

Quick summary: King Express advertises a 30x30x30 door-to-door box at $325.00, described as air freight. USPS publishes $52.20, $102.55 and $132.05 for its Small, Medium and Large Flat Rate boxes to Guatemala. Quick Box USA, CPX and Aeropost publish per-pound rates with additional conditions or charges. A courier’s simplified customs declaration does not itself make the contents tax-free.

The prices below were observed on the operators’ official pages on 23 October 2026. That is a check date, not a tariff effective date. Confirm the complete quote for your contents, weight and destination before paying. Use our USA-to-Guatemala courier directory to compare operators alongside this cost guide.

Published box prices and per-pound rates

For the King box, retain the operator’s size notation when requesting a quote: the displayed offer does not state its measurement unit or an allowed packed weight on the homepage checked on 23 October 2026. Ask the operator to confirm both, together with the restrictions and whether your delivery address qualifies. Its homepage advertises air-package departures on Mondays and Thursdays; do not budget this offer as a sea-freight service.

For USPS, the Small box’s weight limit differs from those of the Medium and Large boxes. Use Guatemala’s column in Notice 123, rather than the Canada column or the general starting price on the international service page. Choose the actual USPS box that fits your contents before comparing its price with a shipment charged by weight.

Charges beyond the per-pound headline

Quick Box USA

The plans page says its rates use actual weight and exclude IVA and import duties. Premium buys prepaid pounds; it is not described as an annual membership. The page says you can use that balance whenever you choose.

Both Premium and Standard list airport handling per package:

Premium lists free metropolitan home delivery; Standard lists Q8.40. Delivery to the rest of the country is listed at Q41.00 for either plan. Both list a high-season charge of $0.10 per pound, described as a temporary adjustment during peak demand. Ask whether it applies to your shipment.

Loss-and-damage insurance is free up to $200.00. Additional insurance costs $1.00 for each additional $100.00 and must be accepted when pre-alerting the shipment. The return guarantee is listed at US $1.50 and applies only to packages brought by Quick Box USA; the customer provides packaging and the return label. Special handling, such as additional packaging or dangerous merchandise, costs extra. Payments made on the customer’s behalf also carry a handling charge. Check air-transport restrictions before sending and pre-alert the invoice as the operator requests.

CPX and Aeropost

CPX publishes its ordinary US actual-weight tariff at $3.70 per pound plus $4.50 clearance per package. Its page says tariffs include IVA and home delivery depends on coverage. It lists insurance included up to $200 with an asterisk; request the applicable insurance terms. Do not treat the separate BiboxPlus offer as the ordinary tariff for every customer.

Aeropost lists FLEX freight at $2.99 / lb and handling at $5.99 / pkg. Pickup-point and smart-locker delivery are free; home delivery is $4.99 / pkg. Its table also lists a Warranty & Returns Program at $1.99 / pkg. The starred freight, handling and delivery prices exclude VAT. Its separate Smart Weight Pack has handling of $21.99 / e-container, so confirm the plan before comparing package totals. Check its restricted-product rules, including the warning about flammables, weapons and perishables.

Customs: simplified clearance is not a tax exemption

RECAUCA articles 566 and 573, published by SAT describe a taxable courier category and simplified declaration for qualifying shipments with customs value no greater than 1,000 Central American pesos (mil pesos centroamericanos). The goods must not be subject to non-tariff restrictions or regulations. The simplified declaration excludes small non-commercial family shipments and goods requiring the listed permissions, certificates, authorizations, exemptions or other regulated treatment. A small parcel is not automatically tax-free simply because a courier handles its declaration.

The separate non-commercial family-shipment procedure in articles 595 and 596 applies the exemption referenced in article 116 of the Code. The value limit is 500 Central American pesos (quinientos pesos centroamericanos), expressed in its national-currency equivalent. Keep that legal currency wording in mind when asking SAT to assess eligibility.

The conditions include all of the following:

• The recipient is an individual, rather than a company.
• The quantity of goods is not suitable for commercial use.
• The recipient has not used the benefit during the preceding six months when the goods arrive.
• Applicable non-tariff restrictions and regulations are satisfied and demonstrated to customs where required.

The benefit is not cumulative: using less than the limit does not create a remaining allowance for another shipment within that period. Repeated consignments to the same person in the same manifest are consolidated to establish a single value; the rule also covers parts forming a unit or components of the same article or articles in series.

The recipient must establish the right to collect the goods with the shipping document in their name and sign the customs declaration prepared by the authority. A commercial invoice is not required for that qualifying procedure. If customs finds the value exceeds the limit, it assesses taxes and may request an invoice or other evidence of the true value. If the requested documentation is not presented, customs determines the value under the applicable valuation system and requires payment. A shipment that does not qualify must use the appropriate non-commercial import or other clearance procedure.

If you are receiving through Correos as a foreign resident

Check the recipient paperwork before posting the box. Correos’ remote-clearance instructions ask users to request remote clearance through option #2 and complete an authorization letter with the date, tracking or appointment number, a signature matching the DPI, DPI number, NIT and telephone number. For a family shipment, attach birth certificates proving kinship. If the recipient has no NIT, Correos instructs them to endorse the package to another person.

For an English-speaking resident whose documents do not match those instructions, ask Correos how to complete the authorization before dispatch. Do not assume a foreign passport can simply replace the DPI in this process. Remain available for the call and photos of the package opening, confirm whether you will pay the tax, then await the package. Correos says opening depends on SAT’s timing, so do not treat postal clearance as a guaranteed delivery deadline.

Get a quote you can actually compare

Give each operator the same contents, value, packed weight, dimensions and destination. Request the freight, handling, insurance, tax treatment and final delivery terms together. For a promotional box, get its packing restrictions and size units confirmed in writing. For a prepaid service, check how much you must buy before shipping and which charges sit outside that balance.

Choose using the complete quote and the recipient’s ability to receive the shipment. The courier directory is the next step for comparing the available operators.

Sources

• King Express: Box special and shipping rates
• Quick Box USA: Plans
• USPS: Notice 123, Price List
• CPX: Shipping tariffs
• Aeropost: Guatemala rates
• Correos de Guatemala: Desaduanaje remoto
• SAT: RECAUCA, Resolución 224-2008