Shipping Zones Explained: How USPS, UPS and FedEx Price Distance

What a zone is

Carriers do not price domestic parcels by the mile. They group destinations into numbered zones by distance from the point of origin, then publish rate tables with a column for each zone. The lowest numbers are close to you; the highest numbers in the contiguous US are the far side of the country.

Two consequences follow. First, zones belong to an origin: the same customer address sits in a different zone depending on where the parcel starts, so a zone chart is only useful for your own ship-from ZIP code. Second, zones ignore state lines. A customer one state over can be in a lower zone than a customer at the other end of your own state.

How each carrier counts zones

The USPS Office of Inspector General describes the Postal Service's method: mileage is calculated between the facilities that process the mail, not between the two addresses. Each zone covers a band of that mileage; Zone 2, for example, covers 51–150 miles and Zone 3 covers 151–300 miles. Zone 9 is reserved for special cases such as mail to Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.

FedEx's zone locator charts list destinations by ZIP code range, mostly by the first three digits. Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico get their own zone numbers, and those differ between FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, so look them up rather than assuming the mainland pattern holds.

Zone times weight: how a label is priced

A carrier's rate table is a grid. Rows are weights, columns are zones, and each service (ground, two-day, overnight) has its own grid. The label price is the cell where your parcel's billable weight meets its zone, plus any surcharges.

Billable weight is the larger of two numbers: what the parcel actually weighs and its dimensional weight. Rate tables step up in weight increments, and anything over a step bills at the next one; FedEx's service guide, for example, rounds any fraction of a pound up to the next pound. A hoodie that tips just over a step costs the next step's price, which is why weighing packed orders, not bare garments, matters when you set rates.

Dimensional weight, worked through

Dimensional weight charges for the space a parcel takes up. The formula is length × width × height in inches, divided by a number the carrier publishes, called the divisor:

• FedEx divides by 139 for US shipments and bills whichever is greater, actual or dimensional weight.
• USPS applies dimensional weight to Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage Commercial parcels larger than one cubic foot (1,728 cubic inches), dividing by 166 and rounding up to the next whole pound. Parcels at or under one cubic foot are not charged dimensional weight; they are priced by weight, or by cubic tier or flat rate where those options apply.
• UPS publishes its own rules in its rate and service guide on the same daily rates page as its zone charts.

The lesson is not that one carrier is always cheaper. It is that package size can matter as much as zone, that light apparel can be billed well above its real weight, and that comparing carriers for your actual package sizes is worth an afternoon. Packaging for apparel orders covers choosing mailer and box sizes.

Surcharges on top of the zone rate

The grid price is the start. FedEx's 2026 Service Guide, for example, lists charges such as:

• a residential delivery charge for parcels addressed to homes
• a delivery area surcharge for select ZIP codes, with higher tiers for extended and remote areas
• a fuel surcharge that changes over time and is published on the carrier's site
• demand surcharges during specified periods of the year
• an additional handling surcharge for oversize, overweight or non-standard packaging, which FedEx prices by zone

Check the current service guide of each carrier you use, because the list, the definitions and the amounts change.

Transit time and where you ship from

Zones and transit days rise together. FedEx's ground service maps, built from your origin ZIP code, show day-definite delivery within the 48 contiguous states in 1 to 5 business days depending on distance, and 3 to 7 business days to Alaska and Hawaii. UPS offers time-in-transit estimates through its time and cost calculator.

Shipping from one location puts the far coast in your highest zones and longest transit times. Some 3PL warehouses split stock across several locations to shorten both, at the price of more inventory spread around and more counting. Whether that is worth it depends on where your orders actually go, which your store's order reports will show. Fulfillment options compares the models.

International orders: forms, codes and duties

Every international parcel needs a customs declaration. Your shipping software generates it with the label, but the content is your responsibility:

• Describe items specifically: "men's knitted cotton T-shirt", not "merch", "apparel" or "gift".
• Give quantities and true values for each line.
• Country of origin is normally where the garment was made, which the blank's label states. Printing it elsewhere does not usually change that; ask a customs broker if your case is unusual.
• HS codes classify goods under the Harmonized System. The first six digits are shared internationally, and countries add their own digits after that. In the US tariff schedule, heading 6109 covers knitted or crocheted T-shirts, singlets and tank tops, and heading 6110 covers knitted or crocheted sweaters, pullovers and sweatshirts.

Duties and import taxes are set by the destination country and depend on the item, its value and that country's rules, which change. Someone has to pay them. Either the customer pays on delivery, or you prepay through a delivered-duty-paid service or a checkout tool that collects duties up front. Unexpected fees at the door lead to refused parcels, so say clearly in your shipping policy who pays.

Setting shipping rates in your store

You have four basic options: free shipping (the cost moves into your prices), a flat rate (one price, or tiers by order value or item count), carrier-calculated rates shown live at checkout (which need accurate weights and package sizes on every product), and free shipping above a threshold. To set a flat rate that holds up:

1. Weigh each product packed in the mailer or box it will ship in.
2. Download your zone chart and note the zones your customers fall into.
3. Look up the label price for each common package at each zone in your carrier account or shipping app.
4. Pull a few months of orders by destination from your store reports, or estimate from your audience.
5. Weight each zone's label price by its share of orders to get your average label cost.
6. Decide how much of that average the customer pays and how much you absorb, and record the gap as a cost line.

That gap is the shipping subsidy line in how to price your merch. If you sell on Shopify, setting up shipping in Shopify covers profiles and rate types, and your product pages should state the policy in plain words.

Useful for: clothing brands, creators, bands.