Regional Carriers: OnTrac, LaserShip, and LSO Explained

The US shipping market is dominated by USPS, UPS, and FedEx, but a growing tier of regional carriers offers faster delivery and lower prices within their coverage areas. OnTrac, LaserShip (now part of OnTrac after their 2023 merger), LSO (Lone Star Overnight), and others operate like the major carriers but focus on specific geographic regions. If your customers are concentrated in the areas these carriers serve, they can save you 15 to 30 percent on shipping costs while often delivering faster.

OnTrac

OnTrac covers the Western United States — California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. They've expanded significantly since merging with LaserShip and now have overlapping East Coast coverage, but their strength is still the West Coast corridor.

For sellers based in California or shipping heavily to West Coast customers, OnTrac Ground is typically 20 to 30 percent cheaper than UPS Ground or FedEx Ground for residential deliveries. Transit times are competitive — 1 to 3 days within their primary coverage area. OnTrac also offers next-day and 2-day services.

The trade-off is service quality. OnTrac's tracking can be less detailed than the major carriers, and delivery consistency varies by market. In their core California market, service is reliable. In the outer edges of their coverage area, delivery delays are more common. Customer service is harder to reach than UPS or FedEx, so resolving issues takes longer.

LaserShip (Now Part of OnTrac)

LaserShip historically covered the Eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida. Since the OnTrac merger, the combined network covers both coasts. The LaserShip brand is being gradually absorbed into OnTrac, but you may still see LaserShip-branded drivers and tracking pages in East Coast markets.

LaserShip's reputation on the East Coast is similar to OnTrac's on the West — cheaper than the majors, faster in their core markets, but with occasional reliability issues. Major e-commerce companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Target use LaserShip and OnTrac for a significant portion of their last-mile delivery, which has driven quality improvements in recent years.

LSO (Lone Star Overnight)

LSO serves Texas and the surrounding states — Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico. For sellers based in Texas or shipping heavily into Texas, LSO offers overnight delivery across the state at prices significantly below UPS and FedEx overnight rates. Their ground service within Texas is typically same-day or next-day.

LSO's coverage is geographically limited but deep within their territory. They operate their own sort facilities and delivery fleet in every major Texas metro area. Service quality within Texas is strong — on par with or better than the major carriers for in-state deliveries.

When to Use Regional Carriers

Regional carriers make sense when you have significant volume going to their coverage areas. If 40 percent of your orders go to California, adding OnTrac as a carrier option and letting your shipping platform route those packages to OnTrac when it's cheaper can save thousands per month.

They don't make sense as your only carrier because they don't cover the entire country. You'll always need a national carrier for shipments outside the regional carrier's footprint. The right approach is using regional carriers alongside UPS, FedEx, and USPS — routing each package to whichever carrier offers the best combination of price and transit time for that specific destination.

atoship integrates with OnTrac, LaserShip, LSO, and other regional carriers alongside the national carriers, automatically comparing rates and transit times to route each package through the cheapest reliable option. For sellers with customer bases concentrated in regional carrier coverage areas, this multi-carrier approach consistently reduces shipping costs.