Fulfillment Companies - Multiple shipping zones in one state

This is common for fulfillment companies (and common carriers)...to have multiple zones for large states. California and Texas are the most common states in this instance.

When you submit an order from Figure to your fulfillment company via an API or .csv file, your fulfillment company is going to base your rate/cost off the zip code in the shipping address of the order, not the zone you put into your Figure account.

The zone in Figure (Settings>Shipping States & Taxes) will apply to your rate table and the cost you have entered into that particular grid to charge customers for the shipping.

Depending on what the policy is at your winery/wine retailer regarding shipping costs (make money, break even, roll it into the cost of the wine's retail price, etc) is how you will want to then set your zones and shipping prices. Some wineries/wine retailers would keep shipping costs separate (not rolled into the price of the wine) and therefore put California/Texas into a zone that is based on the pricing from the fulfillment company that is at the highest cost.

For example:

If your winery/wine retailer is based in Napa and your fulfillment company charges you...

-$22 to ship a 12-bottle case to San Francisco via ground (their zone 2)

-$24 to ship a 12-bottle case to Tahoe City via ground (their zone 3)

-$27 to ship a 12-bottle case to San Diego via ground (their zone 4)

...and you want to cover all your potential costs for shipping a 12 bottle case throughout CA no matter where the order is being shipped to, then your ground rate table would have $27 in that CA zone that you set for 12 bottles.

You are not bound by any of the fulfillment company’s shipping zone rules in your Figure account.

-Your Zone 2 in Figure could be California.

-Then OR, ID, NV, and AZ could be Zone 3.

-WA, MT, CO, NM could be Zone 4.

-Midwest states up to the Mississippi River could be Zone 5.

-Zone 6 could be all of TX along with Midwest states east of the Mississippi River.

North East/New England could be zone 7.

Southeast/Florida could be Zone 8.

Hawaii and Alaska could be zone 9.

Then you take the pricing from the fulfillment company and match it as close as possible to your rate tables for your zones.

It is a complex setup, and one that you should review every year to make sure what you are charging customers matches the rates being charged to you by the carriers/fulfillment company.