At a glance
Average postage cost per EasyPost-routed shipment, post-discount and including standard surcharges. Reflects the multi-carrier rate-shopping outcome: lower than direct-to-carrier average by 5 to 15% typically, driven by EasyPost’s volume-pooled negotiated rates plus per-shipment optimisation across USPS, FedEx, UPS, and regional carriers.
| What it counts | SUM(EasyPost label cost) / COUNT(EasyPost shipments) over the trailing 30 days. Uses the EasyPost-billed amount which includes the underlying carrier rate plus EasyPost’s small per-label fee (typically 0.10). |
| Cost components included | Carrier base rate + fuel surcharge + carrier accessorial surcharges (residential, DAS, dim weight) + EasyPost insurance premium when configured + EasyPost per-label fee. |
| Discount handling | EasyPost negotiates pooled rates with carriers; merchants on EasyPost typically pay 5 to 15% less than direct-to-carrier rack rates. The card reflects net-billed amount after EasyPost’s pooled discount, not rack rates. |
| Service level scope | All EasyPost-routed services pooled by default. Service-mix shifts (more USPS Priority Mail share, less FedEx Ground) drive the headline. |
| Carrier-mix effect | EasyPost’s rate-shopping decision drives this card. If rate-rules favour USPS Ground Advantage for sub-1lb (typical), average is lower than a FedEx-only setup. If merchant requires FedEx for everything, EasyPost still adds value but the cost saving narrows. |
| EasyPost-vs-direct-carrier | Compare against fedex.fed_avg_shipping_cost and usps.usp_avg_shipping_cost for the merchant’s same volume routed direct. EasyPost typically beats the per-carrier-direct number by 5 to 15%. |
| Q4 surcharges | All major carriers (USPS, FedEx, UPS) apply Q4 surcharges that flow through to EasyPost’s billed amount. Expect 5 to 12% climb in November-December. |
| Currency | USD for US accounts. International accounts (Canada, EU) bill in local currency. |
| Time window | 30D vsP (rolling 30 days, period-over-period) |
| Alert trigger | +10% vsP |
| Roles | owner, finance, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your EasyPost data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A US DTC mid-market apparel merchant via EasyPost. Reading taken at 09:00 ET on 12 Mar 26 for the trailing 30 days vs the prior 30 days.| Underlying Carrier | Shipments | Avg billed (EasyPost) | Equivalent direct-to-carrier estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS Ground Advantage | 6,820 | $3.85 | $4.35 (-11%) |
| USPS Priority Mail | 3,940 | $9.10 | $10.20 (-11%) |
| FedEx Ground | 2,180 | $9.40 | $10.50 (-11%) |
| FedEx 2Day | 410 | $24.80 | $27.50 (-10%) |
| UPS Ground | 1,250 | $9.65 | $10.80 (-11%) |
| OnTrac (regional) | 880 | $6.20 | $7.50 (-17%) |
| All carriers (this card) | 15,480 | $5.95 | $6.78 direct (-12.2%) |
- The +5.9% climb is mostly carrier rate increases. USPS published a January 2026 rate hike (5.4%); FedEx applied a January 2026 GRI (5.9%). Both flow through to EasyPost. The card reflects the new rates after they propagated through 30 days of shipping. Non-negotiable.
- **EasyPost is saving the merchant ~12,800/month or $154K/year in savings. This is the EasyPost value proposition; if the saving disappeared, switch to direct-carrier.
- OnTrac at 17% saving is the strongest discount line. Regional carriers offer the deepest discounts to EasyPost because their volume-pooling helps fill capacity. For West Coast metros, OnTrac is consistently cheaper than USPS or FedEx; rate-shopping correctly selects it.
- Service-mix is not shifting. Volume mix between underlying carriers is similar to prior 30D. The cost climb is purely rate-driven, not mix-driven.
- Compare against On-Time Delivery Rate. Cost climb of 5.9% paired with on-time stable at 93.7% = “I’m paying 6% more for the same service quality”. If OTD also climbed, the trade is more comfortable; if OTD also dropped, escalate to the EasyPost CSM about rate-rule tuning.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Avg Shipping Cost | What the combination tells you |
|---|---|---|
| On-Time Delivery Rate | Quality-cost trade. | EasyPost value prop is “save cost without losing on-time”; both cards together verify the trade. |
| Cost Per Shipment Trend | 90D shape behind the headline. | Upward = structural; spike = one-time. |
| Cost by Zone | Geography split. | Far-zone cost drives the headline more than rate-shopping does. |
| Shipments by Service | Carrier mix split. | If FedEx share rises and USPS falls, average climbs structurally. |
Cross-connector: fedex.fed_avg_shipping_cost | Direct-FedEx subset comparison. | EasyPost-FedEx should beat direct-FedEx by 8 to 15% typically. |
Cross-connector: usps.usp_avg_shipping_cost | Same for USPS. | Same. |
Cross-connector: shopify.total_revenue | Margin denominator. | Shipping cost as % of revenue. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in EasyPost’s own dashboard: EasyPost Dashboard → Billing → Statements. Monthly statement shows total spend and shipment count, from which the average is straightforward. Per-shipment cost detail is in Shipments → Detail view. Why our number may legitimately differ from EasyPost’s portal:| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Charge components | Either | Card includes EasyPost insurance and per-label fee; portal sometimes shows base postage only. Match by toggling charges in portal. |
| Refund handling | Card may be higher | Refunds (cancelled labels, MBG refunds passed through) post on next billing cycle; card shows gross until refunds post. |
| Multi-account aggregation | Card aggregates by default | Portal defaults to per-account view. |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
fedex.fed_avg_shipping_cost | Direct-carrier subset. | EasyPost-FedEx should beat direct-FedEx by 8 to 15% from EasyPost’s pooled rates. |
usps.usp_avg_shipping_cost | Same for USPS. | Same. |