Trends & research · 2 min read
Live shipping price dashboard, USPS, UPS, FedEx monthly
Every route, every weight, every month. What USPS, UPS, and FedEx are actually charging right now.
This page is the raw-data view. Unlike the homepage (which features one sample route), this dashboard summarizes all 2,550 US state-pair routes we track, across four weight bands (12 oz, 1 lb, 5 lb, 20 lb). Data refreshes on the first of each month from Shippo. Use this to see which carrier wins the most routes in your weight band.
IHow to read this
- Winner share is the percentage of the 2,550 state-pair routes where a given carrier or service has the cheapest rate at that weight.
- Median cheapest is the median across all routes of the cheapest-carrier's rate. Half of routes cost less; half cost more.
- Cross-country routes (zone 8) typically cost 2-3x what intra-state zone 2 routes cost. The median sits somewhere between.
IIUnderstanding zone pricing
USPS ships by zone, determined by the distance between origin and destination 3-digit ZIP prefixes. Zones 1-4 are local to regional (0-600 miles). Zone 5 is national (600-1,000 miles). Zones 6-8 are cross-country (1,000+ miles). Most of our state-pair tracking hits zones 4-8 because our sample route pairs are typically major-city to major-city.
UPS uses similar zone pricing on Ground. FedEx Ground uses similar zones for Home Delivery. The relative cost gap between carriers stays fairly constant across zones, so a carrier that wins at zone 2 usually wins at zone 8 too (unless oversize surcharges kick in).
IIIMethodology
- Routes: every (origin state, destination state) pair, using a representative city for each state. 50 states x 50 destinations minus same-state pairs = ~2,500 pairs.
- Package dimensions: 10 x 8 x 4 in for all weight bands (standard cardboard box for a small-to-medium parcel).
- Weights: 12 oz, 1 lb, 5 lb, 20 lb (the four bands most ecommerce packages fall into).
- Rate source: Shippo API pulls USPS Commercial Plus, UPS Digital Access Program, and FedEx One Rate where applicable. These are the rates third-party tools like Stamps.com and Pirate Ship expose.
- Refresh cadence: first of each month. Previous months archived in our `bump-data-archive` for future time-series analysis.
IVWhat this does not cover
- Accessorial charges (Residential, Delivery Area Surcharge, Signature Required). Real-world prices will be higher after surcharges.
- International shipments. US domestic only.
- Oversized packages (over 108 in length + girth). USPS declines; UPS/FedEx add heavy surcharges.
- Flat-rate box pricing. Our API calls use weight-based pricing; USPS Flat Rate boxes can beat these rates for dense small items.