Described herein is a method and system to provide optimizing shipping costs that can help arbitrate between a precise solution at an unreasonable cost and a reasonable solution at a very reasonable cost. In one embodiment, a first shipping option is generated to deliver shipments to a first sub-set of recipients within a first time period, and to deliver shipments to a second sub-set of recipients within a second time period that is greater than the first time period, with the shipments to the second sub-set of recipients being a greater distance than shipments to the first sub-set of recipients. The first shipping option provides a cost of shipping savings relative to shipping to all of the recipients within the first time period. The generating of the first shipping option includes selecting the second sub-set of recipients to include a quantity of recipients to provide a cost of shipping savings equal or greater to a predetermined percentage.