Rural Shipping: How to Check Your ZIP Code
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If you live outside a major city or in a smaller community, you may have noticed that shipping costs have changed. USPS now applies additional delivery costs to many addresses classified as rural, which means shipping a package to one ZIP code can cost considerably more than shipping the same package to another.
Because of these differences, Emberlore offers a separate Rural Area Shipping rate of $8.48. This allows us to continue shipping to rural customers while charging a rate that more accurately reflects the cost of sending your package.
The important part is knowing whether your ZIP code is considered rural before you check out.
What Does “Rural” Mean for Shipping?
For shipping purposes, rural does not necessarily mean that you live on a farm, down a dirt road, or miles away from your neighbors. A ZIP code can be classified as rural even if your particular neighborhood does not feel rural.
That is why we use the ZIP code associated with your shipping address rather than trying to determine rural status based on the town or neighborhood itself.
If your ZIP code appears on our Rural ZIP Code List, please choose Rural Area Shipping — $8.48 when placing your order.
How to Find Your ZIP Code on the Rural Shipping List
Because the complete list contains thousands of ZIP codes, we have divided it into 10 separate lists based on the first number of the ZIP code. This makes it much easier to find yours without scrolling through one enormous list.
First, look at the first number of your five-digit ZIP code.
For example, if your ZIP code is 97420, the first number is 9. You would open the image labeled:
Rural ZIP Codes Beginning With 9
If your ZIP code were 23606, you would instead open:
Rural ZIP Codes Beginning With 2
The available lists are:
0xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 0
1xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 1
2xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 2
3xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 3
4xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 4
5xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 5
6xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 6
7xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 7
8xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 8
9xxxx — ZIP codes beginning with 9
Once you have opened the correct image, look through the numbers for your complete five-digit ZIP code.
What If My ZIP Code Is on the List?
If you find your ZIP code on the corresponding list, your address falls within the rural shipping area covered by our Rural Area Shipping rate.
When you reach checkout, please select:
Rural Area Shipping — $8.48
Please do not select the lower standard shipping option if your ZIP code appears on the rural list. The standard rate does not cover the postage required to ship to these ZIP codes.
Orders placed for a rural ZIP code using standard shipping may need to be canceled and refunded if the shipping collected is insufficient to fulfill the order.
What If My ZIP Code Is Not on the List?
If you check the appropriate list and your complete ZIP code does not appear, you do not need to select Rural Area Shipping.
You can simply choose the regular shipping option available to you during checkout.
Why Is There a Separate Rural Shipping Rate?
We would much rather be transparent about shipping than quietly increase prices across the entire shop.
A separate rural rate means customers whose addresses do not incur the additional shipping cost do not have to pay for it, while customers in affected areas can still order without Emberlore having to build those additional postage costs into every product.
Before placing your order, take a moment to check your ZIP code against the appropriate list below. It only takes a minute, and it helps make sure the correct postage is collected so your order can be made, packed, and sent without delays or cancellation.
Start by choosing the image below that matches the first number of your ZIP code: