Can you manage preferred carriers for Shopify Shipping labels?

Where do you set preferred carriers?

If you ship with USPS and UPS, set those two so they display first instead of scrolling through all available carriers.

1. Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.
2. In the Shipping section, click Shipping labels, then Select preferred carriers (it opens the Manage preferred carriers page, the name Shopify's help uses).
3. Tick the carriers you use and click Save.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Shipping and delivery
3. Shipping labels
4. Select preferred carriers

Zoom

At label purchase, your preferred carriers and services show by default (Shopify might also pre-select a Suggested service based on services you used for similar past orders); the rest hide behind Add more, or All for every eligible service (Show All on mobile). In bulk, when you click an order's shipping service, the list shows the same set by default. When we checked on October 25, 2026, the Manage preferred carriers page itself said services “are recommended when buying labels and do not affect rates at checkout.”

How do you narrow services or remove a carrier?

To hide services you never use, click a preferred carrier under Shipping labels, switch off those services and click Save. Shopify's example keeps only USPS Priority Mail and Ground Advantage.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Shipping and delivery
3. Shipping labels
4. USPS

Zoom

You can't have a preferred carrier with no preferred services, so switching off every service asks you to confirm removing the carrier. To drop a carrier directly, untick it on the Manage preferred carriers page (opened from Select preferred carriers) and save.

Shipping internationally with duties prepaid? Shopify's DDP checklist says to set your preferred carriers to carriers and services that support DDP labels. When we checked on October 25, 2026, some carriers on the Manage preferred carriers page showed a Supports prepaid duties label.

Where do preferred carriers apply?

Only where Shopify sells labels: its setup page lists carriers by fulfillment location in 10 countries, and some carriers need your store in the same country as the location. No labels at a location? See the location eligibility checks.

Return labels use their own carrier list, and none of the shipping-label pages we read in October 2026 (preferred carriers, buying labels, bulk labels, return labels) says whether preferred carriers apply there.