Shipping Zones for USPS UPS Fedex by ZIP Code | Fulfilment Cost for US Shipping Zones | Fulfillment Expenses
How Shipping Zones Affect E-Commerce Fulfillment Cost
Nikolay Pasholok
Product Owner, Calcurates
Table of contents
- What Are Shipping Zones?
- What Are the Fulfilment Costs?
- How to Calculate Shipping Zones?
- How Shipping Zones Affect the Cost of Shipping
- Shipping Zones by Carrier
- How Many Shipping Zones are in the USA?
- What Are the FedEx Shipping Zones?
- What Are the UPS Shipping Zones?
- What Are the USPS Shipping Zones?
- How to Reduce Shipping Costs: Using Multiple Fulfillment Centers
- Keep Your E-commerce Open for Customers from Remote Regions
- How to Set Up Shipping Zones for Your E-commerce on Magento or WooCommerce with Calcurates
- FAQ
When shipping domestically, the cost of delivery varies depending on the distance, so understanding how to calculate shipping zones by zip code helps businesses plan precise delivery costs and optimize logistics based on regional groupings.
What Are Shipping Zones?
The entire country is virtually divided into 100-mile-wide areas; this system allows carriers to determine accurate shipping cost by delivery distance and ensure fair pricing regardless of the location. There are eight major shipping zones in the US and the ninth one that encompasses territories outside the 48 mainland states.
What Are the Fulfilment Costs?
Fulfillment costs are costs associated with storing, shipping, and receiving the merchandise.
What Can Be Included in the E-commerce Fulfilment Costs?
Shipping Costs
Fee for shipping once your merchandise leaves the fulfillment centerPackaging Fee
The fee you pay for the product packagingReturn Fee
It is the cost to pay in case the customer wants to return the product backStorage Fee
This fee depends on the size and the type of product that needs to be stored in the fulfillment center. It is a fee for product storingIntake Fee
It is the fee fulfillment center charges for the processing of the order for your e-commerce
How to Calculate Shipping Zones?
To understand how shipping zones are calculated, pay attention to your deliveries' origin address. The rates go up every 100 miles of the way. The distance is always measured from the center of the zone: Shipping from the edge of one to another won't do the trick. Use an e-commerce fulfillment center that can serve both as a storage facility and the point of origin for all the orders shipped to your store.
Shipping zones are dynamic: when shipping from two locations, dynamic shipping rates by region can influence both the zone number and total cost, even if the final destination remains unchanged.
| Shipping Zone | Radius |
|---|---|
| Zone 1 (local) | 50 miles |
| Zone 2 | 51–150 miles |
| Zone 3 | 151–300 miles |
| Zone 4 | 301–600 miles |
| Zone 5 | 601–1000 miles |
| Zone 6 | 1001–1400 miles |
| Zone 7 | 1401–1800 miles |
| Zone 8 | 1801+ miles |
| Zone 9 | Freely associated states |
How Shipping Zones Affect the Cost of Shipping
In this example, there is no difference between Zones 1 and 2, but the price may vary depending on the service and carrier, as local vs national shipping rates often differ significantly due to logistical complexity and distance.
| Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3 | Zone 4 | Zone 5 | Zone 6 | Zone 7 | Zone 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $7.68 | $7.68 | $7.92 | $8.21 | $8.92 | $10.42 | $11.13 | $12.10 |
There are still some exceptions when delivering to different shipping zones. FedEx and UPS offer exact-day delivery options that mitigate the effect of the shipping zones. USPS relies only on the shipping zones for their pricing.
Shipping Zones by Carrier
All carriers use shipping zones to calculate prices. Each carrier has a dedicated page on its website that can help you understand how shipping zones work and what the different shipping zones are.
How Many Shipping Zones are in the USA?
There are nine zones in total: eight for the 48 contiguous states and one for the remaining addresses.
What Are the FedEx Shipping Zones?
FedEx uses two zoning systems when determining rates, one for freight and one for non-flat rate services. There is no official FedEx shipping zones chart, but a generated table of the zones for each service provides all the information.
What Are the UPS Shipping Zones?
UPS also provides an easy method of looking up shipping zones by ZIP Code. There is also a UPS shipping zones chart, but it is only used to show the difference in delivery time frames for UPS Ground services.
What Are the USPS Shipping Zones?
USPS uses shipping zones for almost all of their services except flat rate boxes, envelopes, Media Mail, Library Mail, and Marketing Mail. Since the carrier doesn't provide exact-day services, it is imperative to look at the zones crossed for estimated delivery time.
How to Reduce Shipping Costs: Using Multiple Fulfillment Centers
One way to reduce shipping costs is to have more fulfillment centers; in fact, businesses can significantly reduce shipping costs using fulfillment centers placed strategically across regions to minimize expensive delivery zones. Opening an additional fulfillment center means pouring many resources into it, but with a large enough order volume, the ROI can be remarkable. Two or more fulfillment centers throughout the country can significantly reduce the shipping cost since there would be virtually no expensive zones between the facilities. That means better sales.
Keep Your E-commerce Open for Customers from Remote Regions
Above a certain point, flat rates become a cost-efficient way to ship to remote regions. Using local carriers for last-mile delivery in remote zones may cut costs further, especially when combined with optimized route planning and proper fulfillment setup. When customers have the option to combine different shipping options to achieve the best value, it motivates them to complete the purchase.
How to Set Up Shipping Zones for Your E-commerce on Magento or WooCommerce with Calcurates
Setting up shipping zones for Magento 2 is relatively easy with Calcurates. With Calcurates, you won't need a separate shipping zone calculator for online stores, since this functionality is already integrated to automatically define and apply the correct rates. Transparent rates mean greater customer experience, which always supports sales growth. You don't need to follow complicated instructions to learn how to set shipping zones. Just install Calcurates, activate the shipping zone method of calculating rates, and they will be accounted for automatically.
How to Set Up Shipping Zones For Your Magento 2 E-commerce
Set a name and description for your Shipping Zone
Set a condition for your Shipping Zone using available geo attributes (Country, Region/State, City, Postal Codes, Address Line, Address Type) and operator
Combine multiple geo conditions to configure complex Shipping Zones
Save configured Shipping Zone and assign it to your Shipping Options to make them serve only the selected Zone. You can assign multiple Shipping Zones to one Shipping Option.
FAQ
How do US shipping zones affect eCommerce fulfillment costs?
US shipping zones are calculated based on distance from the origin ZIP code, and they directly impact carrier rates. The farther the shipping zone, the higher the cost—making a multi-warehouse shipping strategy crucial for optimizing logistics, cutting expenses, and improving delivery times.
Why do fulfilment expenses vary for eCommerce businesses?
Fulfilment expenses depend on factors like storage fees, packaging, shipping distance, and return handling. Understanding these costs helps optimize logistics and improve profit margins, especially when shipping across multiple zones.