Our customers can take full advantage of zone skipping with our multiple US warehouses located in unique shipping zones. The money saved on shipping costs can help online retailers to increase sales by lowering their shipping price or the funds can be reallocated to increase profits from their ecommerce store. Before you can fully understand the perks of warehouse zone skipping, it helps to have an understanding of shipping zones.
What is a shipping zone?
Each one of the Fulex warehouses is located in a different shipping zone. Shipping zones are a dynamic calculation dependent on the origin zip code of where the package is shipped. This means that two identical packages shipped from different origin zip codes to the same final destination address might ship to completely different shipping zones.
For example a package shipped via USPS from Michigan (48092) to New York (10001) is in Zone 4. An identical package shipped via USPS from California (92064) to the same address in New York (10001) will be in Zone 8.
Shipping carriers utilize the shipping zone calculations to determine pricing for their services. You can expect to pay more in postage costs for higher numbered shipping zones. In this example, the package from California (Zone 8) to New York will cost more than shipping from Michigan (Zone 4).
Zoned services for USPS do not include flat rate options. The flat rate options (First-Class Mail, USPS Marketing Mail, Library Mail, and Media Mail) are the same no matter where you ship from in the United States. Examples of Zoned services for USPS include:
- Priority Mail
- Priority Mail Express
- USPS Retail Ground
- Bound Printed Matter
You can plug in different origin zip codes on the USPS and UPS websites with the links below:
What is Warehouse Zone Skipping?
Warehouse Zone Skipping is a logistics technique that consolidates parcels or freight loads of packages to ship them across multiple regions to their local destination for delivery. By consolidating shipments, you can take advantage of regional shipping rates and you won’t incur the costs of shipping your packages across multiple zones.
What is the best way to reduce shipping costs using shipping zones?
You can take full advantage of warehouse zone skipping by spreading your inventory out between Fulex’s multiple US warehouses. Fulex has warehouses strategically located to reduce the shipping zone calculation:
- Detroit, Michigan
- Chattanooga, Tennessee
- San Diego, California
What kind of business is ideal for warehouse zone skipping?
Warehouse zone skipping is most ideal for ecommerce stores with higher volumes or who have bulkier items to ship.
What are additional benefits of using a fulfillment center?
When the country shutdown in March 2020, the ecommerce industry boomed. Many online retailers had their hands tied behind their back as Amazon prioritized essential items during the national pandemic. Ecommerce business owners who put all their eggs in the Amazon basket suffered from the delayed shipping times. The ecommerce business owners who used fulfillment centers were able to adapt to the economic changes and reroute those orders through their website. Fulfillment centers continued to ship products anywhere in the US within two days and save themselves from canceled orders due to delayed shipping times and abandoned carts. An added bonus was a gain back on their margins that Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) usually cuts into.
Contact us to learn more about how Fulex can help your ecommerce business reduce transit time and costs through warehouse zone skipping.
[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /][contact-field label=”Message” type=”textarea” /][/contact-form]