Zone skipping, explained.

How it works

Instead of injecting a package into the carrier at your warehouse, you consolidate many packages and move them by line-haul freight closer to their destination region, then inject them locally. The carrier sees a shorter trip, so you pay a lower zone.

When it pays off

Zone skipping works best with dense volume to distant regions. The line-haul cost has to be more than offset by the zone savings, which depends on your lanes.

How to know

Model it against your actual destination mix. The math is lane-specific, so it is worth quantifying before committing.