If you are part of the Nigerian or Ghanaian diaspora in the UK, you have almost certainly carried something home for someone. A parcel for a cousin. A phone for your mum. A suitcase full of things someone needed. Probably for free, as a favour, because that is what the community does.
CarryMate does not ask you to stop doing that. It asks you to get paid for it.
Here is how it works, what you can realistically earn, and what you need to know before your first trip.
What is CarryMate and how does carrying work?
CarryMate is a platform that connects people who want to send parcels home with travelers who have available luggage space on flights they are already taking. You post your trip, set an earning goal, browse matched parcels, collect them from senders before your flight, deliver them at the other end, and get paid when the recipient confirms receipt.
That is the whole thing. You were going to Lagos anyway. The suitcase had space anyway. Now that space earns money.
How much can you realistically earn?
On the London to Lagos corridor, the average earning per round trip for a CarryMate carrier is £150. That is across all carrier levels — Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Here is what a typical LHR → LOS trip looks like with three parcels:
Example trip earnings · LHR → LOS · 8kg available
That is £79 for a single leg of the journey. If you carry parcels on the return trip too — from Lagos to London — you can earn another £60–100, depending on what is available. Many of our Gold and Platinum carriers earn £150–200 per round trip.
Earnings are higher during peak periods. November and December (Detty December season) see a 3–4× increase in parcel demand on the LHR → LOS route. Carriers who are available during this period can earn significantly more per trip.
The carrier tier system
CarryMate has four carrier tiers. Each tier unlocks higher commission rates and additional benefits:
As a Bronze carrier, you earn 75% of the delivery fee. That is already the standard rate — the platform fee covers identity verification, escrow infrastructure, customs intelligence, matching, and support. As you progress through Silver, Gold, and Platinum, you earn a percentage bonus on top of that base rate. A Platinum carrier on a £38 laptop delivery earns roughly £44 versus a Bronze carrier's £28.50.
What does the process actually look like?
Before your flight
Post your trip in the app: enter your departure and arrival cities, your flight date, and how much luggage space you have available (in kilograms). Set an earning goal — for example, £150 — and the app will show you which available parcels on your route would get you closest to that target.
Browse the matched parcels. Every parcel has already been screened against Nigerian customs rules by our AI. Items that are customs-safe show a green badge. Items that require declaration show an amber warning with specific guidance. Accept the parcels you want to carry.
Collecting parcels
You arrange to meet each Sender before your flight — at a café, a station, or the airport itself. When you meet them:
- Inspect the parcel. Make sure it matches the description in the app. If anything is off — heavier than listed, wrong type of item, sealed in a way that prevents inspection — do not collect it. Contact CarryMate support.
- Ask the Sender to show you their pickup OTP. Enter it in the app.
- Photograph the parcel using the in-app camera. This protects you legally.
- Both you and the Sender digitally sign a declaration confirming the contents match the listing.
The flight
The CarryMate app shows you a customs guide specifically for your corridor before departure. For the LHR → LOS route, this tells you which items require declaration at MMA, which channel to use (Red or Green), and what documentation you have available if you are stopped.
You travel as normal. The parcels are in your luggage alongside your own belongings.
Delivering at the Lagos end
Contact each recipient when you land. Arrange to meet them — most CarryMate deliveries in Lagos happen at the recipient's home, office, or a nearby meetup point within 24 hours of landing. When you hand over the parcel, the recipient enters a delivery OTP to confirm they received it. That triggers the escrow release.
Getting paid
The moment each recipient confirms delivery via OTP, the escrow for that parcel is released. If you are based in the UK, your payout goes to your UK bank account via Stripe within 3–5 business days. Nigerian bank accounts receive payouts via Paystack. The money arrives with no additional deduction — what you saw in the app is what you receive.
Is it legal? Am I liable for what I carry?
Individuals have always been permitted to carry personal goods for others while traveling. This is not a grey area. CarryMate formalises what the diaspora community has always done informally.
Your legal protection comes from several layers:
- Every Sender signs a declaration that their parcel contents are accurate. If they lie and you are stopped with undeclared or prohibited goods, the legal and financial liability is theirs, not yours.
- The parcel photograph taken at pickup is a timestamped record of what you collected. It shows exactly what you were given.
- CarryMate provides your booking documentation and parcel photos to customs officers in any incident.
- Our AI screens every parcel description before you see it — hard-blocked items never reach you as a match.
Who is this right for?
CarryMate is for people who:
- Travel between the UK and Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Jamaica, or Côte d'Ivoire regularly — at least a few times a year
- Consistently travel with available luggage space that is not being used
- Are comfortable with the responsibility of carrying goods through customs on behalf of others
- Want to earn meaningful income — not just cover a taxi — from travel they are doing anyway
It is not right for people who travel with full bags every time, who are uncomfortable with the customs process, or who travel infrequently. It works best for the frequent traveler who treats the corridor as a regular route and builds a carrier reputation over multiple trips.
How to get started
- Download the CarryMate app and create an account
- Complete identity verification — passport scan and liveness check, takes under 5 minutes
- Post your next trip when you have a confirmed flight
- Browse matched parcels and accept the ones that work for you
- Collect, fly, deliver, get paid
Your first trip will be slower as you learn the process. Most carriers find the second and third trips much smoother. By your fifth trip, it becomes second nature.
Start earning on your next flight
Post your trip in under 3 minutes. Travelers on LHR → LOS and LHR → ACC earn an average of £150 per round trip.
Post your first trip →