I checked out two other hubs. UPS’s headquarters (since 1991, per Wiki) is Sandy Springs, Ga. 30328. From there, the Oregon/SE Calif./Idaho dead zones show up, but also (and this is new) a big chunk out of Nevada. A UPS package sent from Sandy Springs will get to the Aleutians in just three days.
One of UPS’s biggest hubs here is Columbus, Ohio 43215, almost three hours’ drive from here. The Oregon/SE Calif./Idaho dead zones show up again, but nowhere is more than five days away. The Aleutians? Four days.
In the mid-90s I had to send a weekly report to Barrow, Alaska. It was supposed to be sent via overnight mail, but this turned out to be impossible. FedEx didn’t ship there, nor did UPS. I had to use DHL, and it wasn’t overnight.
In that same time period, I couldn’t deliver court documents to a rural court in Colorado via FedEx. The reason was that the court was only open from 11-4 (and not every day). FedEx wouldn’t do a guaranteed morning delivery to a place that wasn’t open until 11, and it wouldn’t do an any-time delivery to a place that closed at 4. So I had to plan ahead, and give one of the office runners a nice scenic drive (or snowy drive, as the case usually was).
From Oregon, 97006, I get that spot in CA, most of the middle of the country (the red states, natch), and HI at 4 days. That spot in NY is 6 days, and PR is 7 days.
I’m from Brookings, Oregon, in the state’s southwestern corner. Bounded on the west by the Pacific and the east by the mountains, and the closest towns of any size (say, more than five hundred people) are thirty minutes north and south. Medford is a two-hour drive east, although (as sweeteviljesus says) you have to dip down into California to get over there. Nearest actual population centers, if you can call them that, would be Medford, Coos Bay, and Eureka, all about two hours away. Portland is around seven hours’ drive, and San Francisco eight or so.
Not the most convenient place in the world to get to and from, but it sure is beautiful.
From 71446 (a small town in west central Louisiana, pretty close to the Texas border), a tiny piece of SE California is six days. Alaska and Puerto Rico are four, Hawaii is five, as are NE Maine and most of the West Coast and adjoining states. The area around Los Angeles (I think) is four days.
To the same zip code, Alaska takes seven days, a bit of NW California, two little pieces of NE California, and a piece in the middle of Nevada take six, Hawaii takes five, most of Puerto Rico takes four except for a NE bit that takes three, and that piece of Maine still takes five. Most of New Mexico takes three days except for a chunk in the middle that only takes two.
What I find weird, when looking at the 30328 map, is that a spot just north of the California/Oregon border takes 6 days, but a spot just south of the border is 4 days. Surely if they can get it to the state line in 4 days, they can also truck it just over the line? Or do all Oregon packages, however close to the CA border, have to go via the “Oregon” routing?
Nope, they’ll end up in Asia and probably return via different route. Many air routes across the Pacific fly near Anchorage,* so it’s nothing to stop and drop off a load while topping up fuel or changing crews. There’s no law that says they have to come back the same way they came.
I always hated flying to Tokyo from Alaska. First leg from Alaska to Seattle, then sit around Sea-Tac a few hours to get on a plane that spends its first 3 or 4 hours heading right back where I came from. AAarrrggghhh!
If I recall correctly, the facility here in Anchorage is either the 2nd or 3rd largest in the country. Even so, 2-day delivery takes 3-4 days. Go figure.