Virgin Islands (U.S.) + USPS = -2147219080 - Missing value for Country.

[modernm]

Just had a customer notify us that they can not check out due to trying to ship to the Virgin Islands (U.S.). The USPS shipping module reports an error of "-2147219080 - Missing value for Country." I am running 1.3.8a. Anyone come across this for VI?


Cal

[Ajeh]

USPS considers the US Virgin Islands as a "state" of the United States ...

UPS considers the US Virgin Islands as a Country of its own ...

There are several places like this, as in all US Territories and Islands ...

You will see where this happens if you turn on both modules and compare ...

If you ONLY run the USPS module then you should fix this so that you have the Territories and Islands set up only as States of the United States and not as Countries of their own ...

Look at everything listed under the Country for the United States and you will see the ones to address ...

If you want to use BOTH of the USPS and UPS then leave everything as is and your customers will need to adjust their address if they want one or the other ...

This will be addressed in a future release so neither you, nor your customers, will have to think ...

[modernm]

Excellent. Thanks for the response.


Cal

[Ajeh]

Glad that this could help you out ...

[kehrli]

Has anyone cobbled together a patch for this issue yet? It would seem that as long as the USPS receives "United States" as the country for these locales, all should be well.

A less effective fix would be to add something to the error message, that tells territories to use "United States" as the country.

I looked up the list of territories and posessions that the USPS treats like this, and it's pretty long:

2.1 Definition of "Domestic"

Domestic mail is mail transmitted within, among, and between the United States of America, its territories and possessions, Army Post Offices (APOs), fleet Post Offices (FPOs), and the United Nations, NY. For this standard, the term "territories and possessions" comprises the following:

American Samoa
Manua Island, Swain's Island, Tutuila Island
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands, Commonwealth of the
Rota Island, Saipan Island, Tinian Island
Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of
U.S. Virgin Islands
St. Croix Island, St. John Island,
St. Thomas Island
Wake Atoll
Wake Island

2.2 Mail Treated as Domestic

Mail originating in the United States of America, its territories and possessions, APOs, FPOs, and the United Nations, NY, for delivery in the Freely Associated States, and mail originating in the Freely Associated States for delivery within, among, and between the Freely Associated States and the United States of America, its territories and possessions, APOs, FPOs, and the United Nations, NY, is treated as if it were domestic mail. The term "Freely Associated States" comprises the following:

Marshall Islands, Republic of the
Ebeye Island
Kwajalein Island
Majuro Island
Micronesia, Federated States of
Chuuk (Truk) Island
Kosrae Island
Pohnpei Island
Yap Island
Palau, Republic of
Koror Island

[toujours]

Hiya,

I'm not sure I understand-- I'm using UPS -ONLY-, which calculates rates and works great for the 50 U.S. States.

But users in territories, even when selecting their territory in the "state" field, and with the territories set to my US country zone in admin, receive the message from UPS:


111286: GU is not a valid state for the specified shipment

So... does anybody have any idea how to set up the UPSXML to accept addresses in territories? Much much much thanks for any help...

[Ajeh]

The problem is that USPS uses the US Islands and Territories as States of the United States ...

UPS uses the US Islands and Territories as Countries ...

If the test is done with:
Country: United States
State: Virgin Islands
Zip Code: 00830

USPS will work ...
UPS will fail ...

If the test is done with:
Country: Virgin Islands
State: St. John
Zip Code: 00830

USPS will work ... (there is a translation built in to manage this)
UPS will work ...

[toujours]

Hmm, Okay. I don't have a country dropdown box, because we're shipping to the US Only. I'm assuming that US is being passed to UPS as country, then, which is why UPS is returning the error. Is there away to hack it so that the correct "country" is being passed as far as UPS knows, without having to put an extra burden on customers?

Even something as simple as

if {zone_country_id=88} {
$country = 'Guam';
}

Repeated for all territories? Sorry, thinking out loud, but I appreciate anyone who can help...

[Ajeh]

I build a Beta UPS to see if it would manage this issue in UPS ...
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=176606

You might see if that works for you ...