USPS changes effective Nov 14, 2008

[Ajeh]

USPS has announced changes for Nov 14, 2008.

We're reviewing them and will post an update shortly.


As usual, their online documentation has not been updated to reflect the changes. The following is the basic information they've shared with their customers.

Dear Web Tools customer,

There will be several changes implemented in Web Tools by November 17, 2008. While the
APIs will remain structurally and syntactically backward compatible, changes are possibly
substantial enough to affect some users. Please contact [email protected] (1-800-
344-7779) with any specific schema or enumeration changes.

* Effective September 2008, Bound Printed Matter is no longer a valid service type for all
versions of the Delivery Confirmation, Delivery Confirmation PIC, Signature
Confirmation, and Signature Confirmation PIC APIs. On November 14, 2008, Web
Tools will return an error document instead of a successful label response as shown
below:

EFFECTIVE 11/14/2008
PRIOR TO 11/14/2008

<DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Request 
USERID="xxx">
<FromZip5>20770</FromZip5>
<ToZip5>06371</ToZip5>
<ServiceType>Bound Printed 
Matter</ServiceType>
</DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Request>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Error>
<Number>-2147218882</Number>

<Source>DC_Respond.DelivConfirmV3:clsDelivery
ConfirmationV3.0.ProcessDCRequest; 
SOLServerConfrm.DC_Respond</Source>
<Description>Effective September 2008, Bound 
Printer Matter is no longer a valid service type for 
this API. (BPM is restricted to labels with Permit 
Imprint.)</Description>
<HelpFile/>
<HelpContext>1000440</HelpContext>
</Error>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Response>

<DeliveryConfirmationNumber>4200637191020385557498
74163074</DeliveryConfirmationNumber>
</DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Response>

* The underlying infrastructure for USPS Web Tools will be changing on November 14,
2008. There will be a Domain Name Service change that will change the IP address
resolution for the production.shippingapis.com and secure.shippingapis.com names.
This change will not affect the URLs used to access the API's, so there should be no
impact to existing calls and no interruption of service. If you encounter any
communications problems on or after this time, please contact the Internet Customer
Care Center.

* Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) product postage prices will no longer be returned in
the Internationl Rates API (IntlRate) if the value of a shipment exceeds the maximum
value allowed for GXG to the destination country.

For the latest API documenation, including Electronic Merchandise Return Service V4 and
Express Mail Hold For Pickup, please see www.usps.com/webtools/technical.htm.

[DrByte]

Based strictly on the notification from USPS, there appears to be no need to make any coding changes for the November 2008 USPS API changes.

However, since the USPS API documentation available on their website is still dated August 2008, all we have to go on is the email they sent. Specific problems related to their API changes will need to be directed to USPS technical support.

* Effective September 2008, Bound Printed Matter is no longer a valid service type for all
versions of the Delivery Confirmation, Delivery Confirmation PIC, Signature
Confirmation, and Signature Confirmation PIC APIs. On November 14, 2008, Web
Tools will return an error document instead of a successful label response as shown
below:

EFFECTIVE 11/14/2008
PRIOR TO 11/14/2008

<DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Request 
USERID="xxx">
<FromZip5>20770</FromZip5>
<ToZip5>06371</ToZip5>
<ServiceType>Bound Printed 
Matter</ServiceType>
</DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Request>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Error>
<Number>-2147218882</Number>

<Source>DC_Respond.DelivConfirmV3:clsDelivery
ConfirmationV3.0.ProcessDCRequest; 
SOLServerConfrm.DC_Respond</Source>
<Description>Effective September 2008, Bound 
Printer Matter is no longer a valid service type for 
this API. (BPM is restricted to labels with Permit 
Imprint.)</Description>
<HelpFile/>
<HelpContext>1000440</HelpContext>
</Error>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Response>

<DeliveryConfirmationNumber>4200637191020385557498
74163074</DeliveryConfirmationNumber>
</DeliveryConfirmPICCertifyV3.0Response>

Since the USPS Shipping Quote module in Zen Cart does not make any calls related to xxxxxxxxxxx, this is a non-issue.

* The underlying infrastructure for USPS Web Tools will be changing on November 14,
2008. There will be a Domain Name Service change that will change the IP address
resolution for the production.shippingapis.com and secure.shippingapis.com names.
This change will not affect the URLs used to access the API's, so there should be no
impact to existing calls and no interruption of service. If you encounter any
communications problems on or after this time, please contact the Internet Customer
Care Center.

Zen Cart uses the named address, so there should be no impact as a result of this change. Whether USPS has their own technical problems with this or whether DNS replication changes across the general internet cause any problems is beyond the scope of the Zen Cart module. Any problems connecting to the USPS servers should be directed to USPS technical support as they indicated.

* Global Express Guaranteed (GXG) product postage prices will no longer be returned in
the Internationl Rates API (IntlRate) if the value of a shipment exceeds the maximum
value allowed for GXG to the destination country.

The only impact of this would be that GXG rate quotes would not be listed to your customer if the specified criteria apply.