"Ground" is the opposite of air, not a promise about speed or price on its own. Within the contiguous U.S., a package that ships ground moves by truck, and sometimes rail, between the carrier's hubs and is delivered by a local driver, so the time it takes grows with the distance. When an online store offers ground shipping at checkout, it will send the order by a carrier's ground service, and the shipping confirmation or tracking shows which carrier. For freight, ground shipping means moving pallets and full loads by truck, as less-than-truckload (LTL) or full truckload (FTL), or by rail.
Ground Shipping Services by Carrier
Fig. 1 · Comparison
| Item | USPS Ground Advantage | UPS Ground | FedEx Ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum weight | 70 lb | 150 lb | 150 lb |
| Maximum size | 130 in combined length and girth | 108 in long; 165 in length and girth combined | 108 in long; 165 in length plus girth |
| Delivery time, as the carrier states it | 2 to 5 days; may be slower to Alaska, Hawaii and offshore destinations | 1 to 5 business days | 1 to 5 business days in the contiguous U.S.; 3 to 7 to and from Alaska and Hawaii |
| Where it delivers | All 50 states, U.S. military bases, territories, possessions and Freely Associated States | All 50 states and Puerto Rico | All 50 states, to business addresses; homes by FedEx Home Delivery |
| Exact time for a shipment | USPS Transit Time Map | UPS ground maps, by ship date and 5-digit ZIP Code | FedEx transit time check |
The figure above compares USPS Ground Advantage, UPS Ground and FedEx Ground on limits and delivery times. Beyond those numbers:
- USPS Ground Advantage includes $100 of insurance and is the USPS's primary option for hazardous materials that cannot go by air.
- UPS Ground is what UPS calls its most affordable shipping option.
- FedEx Ground delivers to businesses Monday to Friday; residential packages go by FedEx Home Delivery, which FedEx says delivers every day of the week.
Regional carriers also run ground networks in parts of the country, and freight carriers run ground service for pallets and full loads.
How Long Does Ground Shipping Take?
It depends on the carrier, the distance and the destination, so there is no single ground transit time. The things that decide it:
- Distance. Carriers price and plan ground service by shipping zones, bands of distance from the origin. A package to a nearby zone can arrive the next business day; one crossing the country takes several days.
- Origin and destination. The exact transit time depends on the two ZIP codes, and each carrier offers a map or calculator for its own times.
- Business days. UPS and FedEx state their ground times in business days, so a weekend adds to the calendar time.
- Remote destinations. Alaska, Hawaii and other offshore destinations can take longer by ground.
- When the package ships. The clock starts when the carrier picks the package up or receives it, not when the order was placed.
Ground vs. Air and Expedited Shipping
Ground services are the carriers' lower-cost options; air and expedited shipping services cost more to deliver sooner. On its own service-comparison table, FedEx lists ground as cost-effective delivery in 1 to 5 days and its expedited services as urgent delivery in 1 to 3 days. Ground suits orders that are not urgent, heavy packages where air costs more, and goods that cannot fly, such as some hazardous materials. Air suits urgent orders and long distances where ground would take too long. Because ground time grows with distance, multi-warehousing, keeping inventory in more than one warehouse, lets a seller reach more customers in fewer days by ground.
Ground Freight
For shipments too big for a parcel service, ground freight moves by truck as LTL, where a pallet shares a trailer with other shippers' freight, or as a full truckload. Rail and intermodal shipping, which moves a container by rail for the long haul and by truck at each end, are ground options too. Ground freight is priced on its own terms, by freight class, weight and lane for LTL, or by the truck for full loads, and on the Interstate System a truck's gross weight is generally capped at 80,000 lb, or less where the federal bridge formula requires.