GlossaryRates and surcharges
Shipping zone
A carrier's measure of distance between origin and destination, used with weight to set the price of a shipment.
A shipping zone is a band of distance between where a package ships from and where it is going. U.S. carriers number domestic zones from 1 (nearby) to 8 (farthest within the contiguous states), with additional zones for Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories.
Zones are based on the origin and destination ZIP codes, not on straight-line distance to a particular city. Higher zones cost more and usually take longer by ground.
Sellers with customers spread across the country often reduce average zone, and therefore cost and transit time, by shipping from more than one warehouse.
Learn more in our Multi-carrier shipping articles.
Buy, print and track shipping labels and customs documents across carriers from one place.