What Are Usps Shipping Zones In 2022? (Your Full Guide)
A great thing about the United States Postal Service (USPS) is the fact that it covers virtually every square mile within the United States. Postal Service will send your mail to you if there is a residence address.
However, you aren’t necessarily charged the same to ship to the next town over versus the next state over. The USPS shipping zones are the reason.
How Will the USPS Ship Zones Change in 2022?
United States Postal Service’s zone system for shipping is a unique method to calculate the postage cost and speed of delivery. Based on customer zip codes, there are 9 zones. The closest zone is 1 and the furthest destination is 9.
What is the USPS Zones’ Work Process?
Believe it or not your maps could look very different if your friend was in another place and looked at a map with the United States’ post zones.
Because the USPS shipping areas are divided into nine regions but are individualized based on zip codes of origin,
ShippingSchool.com offers a helpful breakdown of different zones.
Zone 9: Freely Associated States or U.S. Territory, such as Guam, Puerto Rico, and so forth
The general rule is that the further away from the zone to which you are shipping, the more expensive it will be.
You can see from this how shipping to, say, California, would cost less for someone in Arizona than it would for someone in Georgia.
Once you’ve identified the area in which you live and determined where your mailpiece will arrive, you’ll be able access USPS.com to check its price page.
All mail doesn’t depend on postage zones; USPS Marketing, Library, and First-Class mail all ship the same amount regardless of destination.
Priority Mail, Priority Express and USPS Retail Ground are some of the zoned services.
As an illustration, take a look below at Priority Mail’s price breakdown.
For $7.95, a parcel weighing less than one pound can be shipped locally and between Zones 1 & 2.
If someone was born in Pittsburgh, they would use the ZIP code 15213. This is where you will find most of the University of Pittsburgh campus located in Oakland.
They could send a 1-lb. They could send a 1-lb. parcel to the 15213 ZIP code as well as parts of West Virginia and most of Western PA as well as into Ohio for $7.95.
These are also the fastest shipping methods. A shipment sent Priority to about half of an area might be delivered in one day.
The parcel would be delivered within 2 days to recipients in Zone 1 or 2.
Priority Mail is available to all residents of Zone 1 or 2 in the local area. This assumes there have been no delays.
PirateShip.com has a really useful Zone Map, which I used with the USPS.com PriorityMail Delivery Map.
You can also make use of the USPS.com Domestic Zone Map.
How Are USPS Shipping Zones Calculated?
It is not clear how USPS determined the distances to each zone. However, these are calculated as radiuses relative to each specific zip code.
You can clearly see that the areas are not drawn in perfect circles. They’re close approximates, following the distance rules.
The distance breakdown can be found here.
What I find most interesting about the shipping zones system is the fact that certain zip codes can be found in the middle or even the entire country. For example, 67460, McPherson County Kansas.
They are located in a central area, so they only have a handful of Zone 7 areas.
The vast majority of the shipping cost for these residents would be covered by Zone 6 or lower.
What Does the USPS Zone Difference Mean for Shipping Costs?
A mailpiece traveling from California to Washington, D.C. has to cover a lot more ground than, say, a mailpiece from California to Texas, so USPS charges more for some services.
Zoned services include: Priority Mail, Priority Express, USPS Retail Ground, and Bound Printed Matter.
You will also receive the First-Class Packet for orders 13 ounces and less.
These zoned services will generally charge more for mailpieces that are further away.
Some services have a steeper price increase than others.
For example, a 1-oz. Parcels start at $4.30, Zones 1 & 2, while Zone 9 is $4.75.
The cost of a half-pound mailer starts at $23 in Local or Zone 1 and 2. It then rises to $46.90 Zone 9.
See the Pricing for Priority Mail packages at 70 Pounds. (The maximum weight). Shipping to local + Zones 1 and 2 starts at $166.15
You might wonder why some services cost so much by the Postal Service. The Postal Service uses this zonal approach.
The USPS doesn’t rely on public funding, as you may not have heard. Instead, USPS operates solely on its sales.
Yes. It is an U.S. government agency but it’s still an independent agency with greater self-regulatory powers than any fully funded agencies.
It doesn’t matter if the shipping cost is higher. The goal is to be functional as long as possible. Unfortunately, this becomes increasingly difficult each quarter.
Where can you find the USPS Postal Zone where you live?
Use the USPS.com domestic zone calculator to locate your area’s local zone.
Visual learners will love this PirateShip.com chart. This map gives you a colour-coded guide through each zone.
Remember: Each zip code has its own zone. Just like there are different time zones, zones can be dynamically calculated according to each zip code.
What are USPS International Zones (USPS)?
You can use USPS international areas to calculate the price of mail sent abroad.
The USPS calls them Price Groups. However, they can be compared to domestic zones.
The shipping company is the main difference.
Croatia’s price group 4 is if you ship via Global Express Guaranteed. Group 3 for Priority Express International.
You will find it in Group 8 under Priority Flat Rate International.
The majority of countries in the world look like this. They are divided into different categories – with different prices – depending on their shipping services.
For example, you could ship 5 lb. of food to Croatia. Global Express Guaranteed will cost $243.40 for a package of 5 lb.
Priority Express International would charge $97.50.
Priority Flat-Rate International puts Croatia into Group 8. You can order items from 4.1 to 20 pounds using the medium Flat Rate box. and would cost $85.
USPS International Groups have a consistency that transcends domestic zones. This means you can use the USPS International Groups regardless of where your location is in the U.S.
You can read more information about shipping by visiting our posts related to whether USPS ships directly to Puerto Rico or Canada.
Each USPS shipping zone is unique to each ZIP code, each representing a specific distance from its starting point.
It is more costly to use Priority Mail or Priority Express if the number of zones exceeds 100.
.What Are Usps Shipping Zones In 2022? (Your Full Guide)