Stick the label flat on one face of the box, parallel to the longest side, clear of seams, edges and corners, and keep every label on that same side. Skip the tape layer: FedEx tells shippers to avoid taping over the label or covering it up, and USPS says not to fold labels, bend them over edges, or overlap them. Both read on the carriers' own sites, 2026-07-27.
Three words cover most of label placement. The carrier pages behind them were read on 2026-07-27.
Placement advice costs nothing, so here is what the ride itself ran on quote day: a 14 × 12 × 6 inch box at 5 lb, five services, one lane.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Days quoted |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground Saver | $19.25 | 6 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $19.30 | 6-7 business days |
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $20.84 | 6-7 business days |
| UPS | 3 Day Select | $27.17 | 3-4 business days |
| USPS | Priority Mail | $32.26 | 2-3 business days |
Three ground services inside a narrow band, then a sharp step up for speed. Placement will not make a package cheaper, but bad placement can make it slower, because a barcode that fails to scan drops the box into manual sorting.
A barcode folded over an edge wrinkles, and a wrinkled code misreads. When one face genuinely cannot hold the whole label, FedEx allows a split: position the barcode on one side of the seam and the recipient’s information on the other, per fedex.com. Flat on a single face beats clever every time.
Secure all four label edges so nothing lifts in transit, but leave the printed area, and above all the barcode, uncovered. A code a scanner cannot read sends your box on a detour through human hands, and human sorting is where days get lost.
The USPS packing page, checked 2026-07-27, tells anyone reusing a carton to cover or black out all old logos, barcodes, shipping labels and addresses. One stray code from the box’s previous trip can win the scanner race and route your parcel into history.
No. FedEx advises against taping over the label or covering it up. Fix the label by its edges and leave the barcode area bare so scanners catch it on the first pass.
The published rules ask for flat placement on a single face, parallel to the longest side, rather than a particular face. Pick the largest unobstructed side and stay clear of seams and corners.
Use the biggest face available, and if the label still cannot sit flat, split it across the seam the way FedEx describes: barcode wholly on one side, address block on the other. Never wrap the barcode around an edge.
They can. USPS instructs shippers to cover or black out previous labels, logos and barcodes before reuse, because sorting equipment cheerfully scans whichever code it finds first.