Have the buyer retype the address
People skim a line they were shown and correct a line they had to type. Asking for the address again in a fresh message catches transposed apartment numbers that a confirmation click never will.
After the label prints
Changing a delivery address after shipping
The address on a bought label cannot be edited, on any carrier, at any price. What exists instead is a set of separate interventions that ask the carrier to treat the piece differently while it moves, and each one belongs to either the sender or the recipient rather than to both.
Sender and recipient splitPublished fees onlyCheckout screening explained
The fix that costs nothing happens before payment
Our checkout screens both ends against carrier address records and will not take money while the destination fails to match.
Who is allowed to ask
Almost every frustrating call to a carrier comes down to this split. Sellers ask for something only a recipient can request, buyers ask for something only a shipper can buy, and the person on the phone cannot fix either.
| Carrier | Sender route | Recipient route | What the carrier publishes about cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | Package Intercept | Delivery Instructions | $19.45 intercept fee plus applicable postage; a recipient redirect to a different domestic address costs additional postage |
| UPS | UPS Delivery Intercept | Delivery change through a UPS account or as a guest | Fees may apply for all types of requests, charged only if the request is completed |
| FedEx | Shipper-side delivery change | FedEx Delivery Manager | Redirect to a retail location at no cost; reroute to another residence from $5.55 to $33.50 per package by distance |
Note what is missing from every cell in that table: a way to correct a misspelled street or a wrong apartment number in place. Carriers move a parcel elsewhere, they do not rewrite the label, and the difference matters because a redirect usually needs a complete, deliverable address to aim at.
The USPS case in detail
USPS gives the sender one product and the recipient another, and they overlap less than you would hope.
- Sender. Package Intercept costs $19.45 plus any applicable postage and only applies while the piece is not out for delivery and not delivered. A retail sender can send it back to the origin address or park it at a Post Office; only a commercial sender may name a new delivery address. Redirects to a PO Box are excluded outright (per usps.com, checked 2026-07-28). The full rule set is on our intercept page.
- Recipient. USPS Delivery Instructions lets the addressee authorise the carrier to leave a package in a specified location, and states that for the cost of additional postage you can have your package sent to a different domestic address (per usps.com, checked 2026-07-28).
- Neither. If the address was simply wrong, the likely ending is a return. Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express and First-Class pieces that cannot be delivered or forwarded go back at no additional charge under DMM 507 1.8.3, and the sender buys a second label.
One more wrinkle worth planning around: if the recipient has filed a change of address, USPS forwards Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail and Ground Advantage items for free, so a parcel sent to an old home may arrive at a new one without anyone intervening. That behaviour, and the classes it does not cover, is unpacked on our retention and forwarding page.
What a clean second shipment costs
Before paying for any intervention, price the alternative. These live SMKlog quotes cover a 12 x 10 x 6 in carton at 5 lb running the length of the country, Newark, NJ 07102 to Los Angeles, CA 90011, captured 2026-07-28.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Transit window returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground Saver | $19.14 | window not returned |
| UPS | Ground | $19.30 | 6-7 business days |
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $19.64 | 5-6 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $20.50 | 7-8 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $31.43 | 2-3 business days |
A coast-to-coast 5 lb box lands within about a dollar across three ground services, and every one of them costs roughly what a USPS intercept fee costs on its own before postage. On a short lane the reship is cheaper still, which is why the answer for low-value goods is so often to let the first parcel finish its trip and send a correct second one.
Where the calculus flips is anything valuable, perishable or awkward to replace. Then the fee is trivial next to the loss, and speed matters more than economics.
Checkout is the last cheap moment
SMKlog screens origin and destination against carrier address records and refuses payment while the destination cannot be matched. Nothing downstream of that point is free.
We cannot file carrier requests
Intercepts, delivery instructions and reroutes live in the carriers' own accounts. We can tell you which one applies and what it costs, and the request itself has to be made on their site.
Address change questions
Can I change the address on a shipping label I already bought?
No. The label is a fixed record once it is purchased and printed, and no carrier edits it in place. What you can buy instead is an intervention that moves the parcel, and each carrier runs its own version with its own rules.
What does it cost to change a USPS delivery address?
For a sender, USPS charges a $19.45 Package Intercept fee plus any applicable postage, checked 2026-07-28. For a recipient, USPS states that sending a package to a different domestic address through Delivery Instructions costs additional postage.
Can UPS or FedEx move a package to a new address?
Both offer it. UPS states that fees may apply for all types of delivery change requests and that you are only charged if the request is completed. FedEx prices a reroute to another residence between $5.55 and $33.50 per package depending on distance, while a redirect to a retail location is listed at no cost.
Is it cheaper to reship than to redirect?
For low-value parcels, usually. A 5 lb carton from Newark 07102 to Los Angeles 90011 quoted $19.14 at the cheapest row through SMKlog on 2026-07-28, which is about the same as a USPS intercept fee before postage is added on top.