Alabama sits in the comfortable middle of the zone chart from both coasts — no ocean legs, no extreme zones, just steady mid-range pricing where the ground tiers stay close together.
Both tables below are live carrier quotes from 2026-07-27 for one specific box on one specific route. No rounded ranges, no starting-at figures.
One real box, priced live: 12 × 10 × 6 in, 5 lb, packed with household goods, quoted through the SMKlog calculator to Birmingham from a coast on each side. What the carriers sent back is printed below untouched. The figure in the price column is the whole checkout total, SMKlog's charge included, with nothing bolted on after.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Quoted transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $13.29 | 6-7 business days |
| UPS | Ground Saver | $13.52 | 5 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $14.05 | 3-4 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $14.31 | 4-5 business days |
| UPS | 3 Day Select | $19.94 | 3-4 business days |
| Carrier | Service | Price | Quoted transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $17.30 | 6-7 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $17.52 | 7-8 business days |
| UPS | Ground Saver | $19.14 | 6 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $19.30 | 7-8 business days |
| USPS | Priority Mail | $28.19 | 2-3 business days |
The 2026-07-27 winner on both legs was USPS Ground Advantage: $13.29 out of Newark, $17.30 out of Los Angeles. Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile sit in the same zone bands from most distant origins, so which Alabama city you pick barely nudges the quote. What will move it is time and your own parcel; carriers refresh rates all the time, so read these tables as a dated snapshot and run your real ZIPs before deciding anything.
Carriers charge on whichever is greater: actual weight or a number computed from the box's volume. A roomy box with a pillow in it can bill like a brick. Snug packaging keeps the billable weight honest, and the quote lower.
In the Newark table above, UPS Ground sits 76 cents above USPS Ground Advantage yet quotes roughly half the transit. Scan the transit column before settling on the cheapest row; the second-cheapest is often the smarter buy.
Type what you're sending the way you'd describe it to a friend and SMKlog estimates the packed box; exact dimensions work too if you've already measured. USPS, UPS and FedEx quotes come back side by side, you pay for one, and the label prints at home with tracking.
Our 2026-07-27 test box (12 × 10 × 6 in, 5 lb) came back at $13.29 from Newark and $17.30 from Los Angeles, both via USPS Ground Advantage. Those totals are final at checkout; the label and SMKlog's charge are already inside. A different box or ZIP pair returns a different figure, so quote yours live.
Each row in the tables above carries the window the carrier itself quoted on 2026-07-27 for that exact route, from 2-3 business days on the fastest tier shown to 7-8 on the slowest. Paying up for a quicker service is how you compress the window.
USPS Ground Advantage took both legs: $13.29 from the Newark side, $17.30 from the Los Angeles side. That result is dated, though. Rates shift week to week and a heavier or bigger box can hand the win to UPS or FedEx, so compare live rather than assuming.
Yes. Describe the parcel, give both ZIP codes, pick whichever live rate suits you, and pay. No signup step, and tracking comes with every label.