What is the best way to ship packages to Alaska?

For small parcel e-commerce, a zone-skipping air model is the most consistent approach. Parcels fly from mainland consolidation points to Alaska, bypassing intermediate zones that add cost and transit time.

How does IB handle Alaska's remote communities?

Delivery windows for remote areas are extended and communicated accurately upfront. IB's operations team has 20+ years of Alaska contingency planning to draw on when conditions change.

What savings can I expect on Alaska shipping?

Most e-commerce businesses shipping to Alaska with IB save up to approximately 30% compared to standard carrier rates. The exact savings depend on your parcel profile and volume. Contact our team for a specific estimate.

How do I track packages shipped to Alaska?

IB provides real-time tracking from first scan to final delivery, including through every handoff in remote regions. Use the IB tracking tool at myib.com/track.

Destination

Shipping to Alaska

Q: Can small businesses use IB for Alaska shipping?

Yes. For lower-volume shippers, Box of Savings provides access to IB's full Alaska network: the same transit times, cost efficiency, and service as high-volume accounts.

Reliable parcel delivery to the state where geography tests every network

Alaska's combination of extreme distances, severe weather, mountainous terrain, and remote communities makes it the most demanding small parcel destination in the United States. Whether you ship packages to Alaska as part of your e-commerce fulfillment or you're evaluating it for the first time, International Bridge has spent over 20 years building a network for this challenge.

Day metro delivery: 2–5; Day metro delivery
Savings: ~30%; Savings
Years Alaska logistics: 20+; Years Alaska logistics

Talk to the IB team 801-889-1281

The opportunity

Why Alaska matters for e-commerce

Alaska's 733,000 residents are geographically isolated from the retail infrastructure that mainland U.S. consumers take for granted. Limited local retail options mean Alaskan consumers are disproportionately reliant on e-commerce, with higher average order values and stronger brand loyalty than most mainland markets. According to Capital One Shopping's 2024 data, Alaska generated approximately $2.16 billion in e-commerce revenue, a market that many retailers are leaving on the table.

For e-commerce retailers willing to serve Alaska, the result is a customer base that orders more, returns less, and stays loyal longer.

Alaska still sits outside the shipping zones of the majority of online retailers. Standard carrier surcharges, unpredictable delivery timelines, and the operational complexity of reaching remote communities create a perception that Alaska shipping erodes margin rather than building it.

Demand is not the barrier. It is infrastructure. E-commerce shipping to Alaska requires routing that accounts for weather variability, limited ground transportation, air-dependent supply chains, and communities reachable only by alternative final-mile methods. That is the infrastructure IB Non-Con has been building since 2003, the same network that serves Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Learn more about IB Non-Con

The geography

663,300 square miles. One road to the outside world.

Alaska is 2.5 times the size of Texas, larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. For 733,000 residents with limited access to local retail, e-commerce is not a preference. It is how they buy. Every retailer that excludes Alaska from its shipping zones is handing that demand to someone willing to figure out the logistics.

Map of Alaska showing Anchorage (ANC) and Juneau (JNU)

Larger than Texas: 2.5x; Larger than Texas
Accessible by road: 20%; Accessible by road

These residents depend on air and water for everyday goods. If your store ships there, you become part of their supply chain. If it doesn't, someone else does.

ASCE Alaska Infrastructure Report Card

The model

How IB ships parcels to Alaska

IB ships to Alaska using the same zone-skipping model that powers all IB Non-Con destinations, including Hawaii and Puerto Rico: consolidation at U.S. mainland, air transport on established airline routes, then in-state processing and delivery. With facilities in Anchorage and Juneau, IB has local infrastructure where it counts.

01
Consolidate
Parcels are collected, scanned, and sorted by Alaska destination region at an IB consolidation point.
02
Fly on established routes
Parcels fly to Alaska on established airline routes with pre-arranged capacity, bypassing the intermediate zone handoffs that add cost and transit time.
03
Process and deliver in-state
Parcels are processed through IB's Alaska infrastructure and delivered across metro and remote destinations. For metro areas, parcel delivery to Alaska takes 2–5 business days. Remote destinations have extended windows, communicated accurately upfront.

Returns handling: IB also manages reverse logistics for Alaska. When customers return products, the network works in both directions, so you don't need a separate returns process for non-continental orders.

The business case

What adding Alaska does for your business

Larger orders

More per transaction

Limited local retail means Alaska customers buy more per order than most mainland markets.

Lower returns

Intentional purchasing

Customers who rely on e-commerce buy with purpose, not impulse.

Less competition

Fewer competitors

Many retailers still exclude Alaska. Serving it builds loyalty that's hard to displace.

Adding Alaska through IB Non-Con is not an operational burden. It's a margin opportunity with a customer base that stays longer and spends more. The infrastructure exists. The question is whether you want to be the retailer that serves them or the one that doesn't.

In a formal report to Congress, the Federal Trade Commission confirmed that many online retailers are unwilling to ship to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories. That documented gap is the competitive advantage IB's customers operate in. (FTC Report to Congress on Shipping to Non-Foreign Areas, 2020)

Pricing

Alaska shipping rates and what drives cost

~30%Typical savings vs. traditional carriers

Shipping rates to Alaska depend on your parcel profile, destination region (metro vs. remote), monthly volume, and how your parcels enter the IB network. IB's Non-Con model makes Alaska commercially viable for e-commerce businesses of every size.

The savings are specific to your business. A short conversation with our team gives you a specific, accurate estimate.

Get a rate estimate 801-889-1281

IB does not charge for:

Residential surcharges
Delivery area surcharges
Extended area surcharges
Net minimum rates
Demand surcharges
Saturday delivery surcharges
Dimensional fees under 1 cu ft

Box of savings

Shipping lower volumes to Alaska? Same network, same rates.

Box of Savings gives lower-volume shippers access to IB's full Alaska network: the same transit times, the same cost efficiency, and the same service as high-volume accounts. Print your IB Non-Con labels, consolidate into one box, ship to IB, and the network handles the rest.

Find out how Box of Savings work

Behind the network

Technology and people engineered for Alaska

IB's Alaska service runs on two things: software developed in-house for non-continental shipping, and an operations team that knows how the network behaves under disruption.

Our technology

Visibility across every handoff

IB's shipping platform is designed, developed, and maintained by an in-house engineering team for non-continental delivery. When the network changes, engineering can promptly update the system to match.

IB provides real-time parcel visibility from the first scan through in-state processing to final delivery, and it connects with the platforms you already use, so Alaska orders flow through the same workflow as your mainland shipments.

Integrates with:

Our people

On the ground where conditions change

When a storm grounds flights into Anchorage or a remote carrier route changes, IB's operations team doesn't wait for an escalation. We have the contingency plans, the carrier relationships, and 20 years of Alaska-specific experience to respond in real time.

That's not a standard customer support promise. It's what being a logistics partner for Alaska actually requires, and it's what IB has been doing since 2003.

Also shipping to

Hawaii
2–5 day delivery across all five major islands. Established air routes, approximately 30% savings vs. traditional carrier rates.
Shipping to Hawaii
Puerto Rico
Domestic delivery, 3–4 days from mainland U.S. 20+ years of Puerto Rico carrier relationships and bilingual support.
Shipping to Puerto Rico
U.S. Territories & APO/FPO/DPO
IB also serves Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, CNMI, and military APO/FPO/DPO addresses through IB Non-Con.
Explore Non-Con destinations

FAQ

Alaska shipping, answered

What businesses should know about shipping to Alaska with reliable service and better cost control.

IB delivers to metro Alaska destinations in 2–5 business days from the mainland. Remote communities have extended delivery windows that vary by location and air service availability. IB quotes accurate timeframes for each specific destination, not blended averages.

Resources

Guides and resources

Operational guides and destination insights for shipping to Alaska

Let's talk about your Alaska shipping

IB's small parcel shipping to Alaska is built for e-commerce businesses of every size. Whether you ship 50 packages a month to Anchorage or 50,000 across metro and remote Alaska, expect 2–5 day metro delivery and approximately 30% savings vs. traditional carrier rates.

Shipping to Alaska

Why Alaska matters for e-commerce

663,300 square miles. One road to the outside world.

How IB ships parcels to Alaska

Consolidate

Fly on established routes

Process and deliver in-state