USPS new rates May

[cshart]

Here is the message from USPS what must be done about this --- they say new programming must be in place for Zen Cart to work. IS that correct are plans in place to do this???

We are informing you that USPS Web Tools will be implementing changes due to the May 2007 Rate Changes.



In May, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will implement the new Rates in accordance with the Federal Register, to adjust postage prices to cover operational costs and respond to changes in the marketplace. With this change, the USPS Web Tools will release new version iterations and corresponding XML schemas for the APIs: domestic rates, international label and custom forms APIs.



The international APIs: Global Label Express Mail, Global Label Priority Mail and Global Label Airmail Parcel Post will be realigned to three new services: Express Mail International, Priority Mail International and First Class Mail International. Within these services, two new service types, Express Mail International Flat Rate Envelope and Priority Mail International Flat Rate Box will be added to the Web Tools international APIs.



The Domestic Rate API V2 will be modified and can be used after the release of Rate V3 for other than Large Priority Mail pieces.



A staging environment will be available in early April. Updated user documentation will be posted on USPS.com at http://www.usps.com/webtools. Please look for a follow-up email in early April notifying you of specific dates and detailed information.

C

[DrByte]

Thank you.
We received the same notice and will be addressing it when the new testing area becomes active.

[cshart]

Thank you.
We received the same notice and will be addressing it when the new testing area becomes active.

What is the status on this. Is it the USPS that is not up to speed?

[DrByte]

A staging environment will be available in early April. Updated user documentation will be posted on USPS.com at http://www.usps.com/webtools. Please look for a follow-up email in early April notifying you of specific dates and detailed information.

We received the same notice and will be addressing it when the new testing area becomes active.

What is the status on this. Is it the USPS that is not up to speed?

It's not an issue of "up to speed" or not.

USPS has not yet set up their staging area, nor updated their documentation, nor sent out the "follow-up email in early April".
Until then, your USPS rate calculations will continue to operate fine.
If you are looking for an update on their progress, contact USPS.

Zen Cart can do nothing to support the May 2007 rate changes or their API changes until they publish the details of the changes.

[cshart]

It's not an issue of "up to speed" or not.

USPS has not yet set up their staging area, nor updated their documentation, nor sent out the "follow-up email in early April".
Until then, your USPS rate calculations will continue to operate fine.
If you are looking for an update on their progress, contact USPS.

Zen Cart can do nothing to support the May 2007 rate changes or their API changes until they publish the details of the changes.

Thats what I thought, here at zencart things are addressed rapidly and people are helpful. The USPS not so much.

Thanks for the answer.

I will get visiting their website.

C.

[signs]

Are there any updates on this? My shopping cart is completely malfunctioning. Can't get to checkout_shipping.php due to the page going white. The shipping estimator in the shopping cart view does the same thing.

I could offer just UPS but that means I have to go out to take the packages to be mailed. I'm handicapped and don't want to have to resort to that.

[rtw819]

It would appear the USPS must have made some additional changes this evening... I've turned on the email debugging output of the USPS rate calculator module on our site, and we are now consistently seeing this error message:

<Error>
<Number>80040320</Number>
<Description>An unexpected system error has occurred. Please try again later or contact the System Administrator. </Description>
<Source></Source>
</Error>


The error message isn't very telling, Googling doesn't tell much, but the same 'white screen of death' during checkout is occurring for us as well.

[DrByte]

It would be most prudent to talk to USPS Customer Support when there is a problem occurring on their servers ...

At the present time, they have not yet updated their online documentation to reflect the details of any changes they are making. Thus there is little that can be done until they get their systems back online. It's still uncertain what changes will need to be made to code, if any, let alone to what extent.

[signs]

In case anyone wants to use a temporary work around, here's what I have done on my site. I implemented the Table Rate and edited the text for how it displays (in includes/languages/english/modules/shipping/table.php) to read "USPS Priority Mail", rather than "best way". Then I set up the table based on weight and estimated prices based on what it would normally cost me to send to the farthest away zones.

Until USPS gets off their butts and gives us some documentation, this will work for me.

[ranger_lp]

We just got this in an email. If this is a duplicate, please ignore...

Dear Customer,



On May 14 2007, the United States Postal Service(r) will implement changes for Domestic Mail. In response to these changes, a new Domestic Rates Application Program Interface (API), RateV3, will be released by USPS Web Tools(r).



A staging environment will be available to test the new API on April 19th. Please go to:

http://stg-production.shippingapis.com/





RateV2 will still be available after the release of RateV3, and will suffice unless rates need to be calculated for Large Priority Mail packages. USPS is introducing a new dimensional weight pricing model for Large Priority Mail pieces. Dimensional weighting is a mechanism that converts the cubic size of a piece into a weight. If a large box is very light, it will be charged as a higher-weight piece, based on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) standard. This change only affects Priority Mail pieces larger than 1 cubic foot, and traveling to destinations within zones 5-8. The Rate V3 API still requires dimensions if an item is large, regardless of the zone.





To capture the dimensional weight for Large Priority Mail pieces, RateV3 will require three new dimension tags for rectangular Priority Mail pieces: Length, Width, and Height; and four new dimension tags for non-rectangular pieces: Length, Width, Height, and Girth. Shippers will specify in the existing Container tag whether a Large Priority Mail piece is rectangular or non-rectangular.



RateV3 also implements changes to First Class Mail. A new tag, First Class Mail Type, will be used to specify whether a First Class Mail piece is a letter, flat, or parcel. Today, First Class Mail pieces are charged identical rates, regardless of the type of package. With the change, the postage for each type of First Class Mail piece will more accurately reflect the processing costs for each. The Machineable tag will also be applied to First Class Mail, in addition to Parcel Post.



An example of an XML request of the Rate V3 is:

<RateV3Request USERID="000AAAAA9999">

<Package ID="1ST">

<Service>FIRST CLASS</Service>

<FirstClassMailType>LETTER</FirstClassMailType>

<ZipOrigination>44106</ZipOrigination>

<ZipDestination>90210</ZipDestination>

<Pounds>0</Pounds>

<Ounces>0.75</Ounces>

<Size>REGULAR</Size>

<Machinable>false</Machinable>

</Package>

<Package ID="2ND">

<Service>PRIORITY</Service>

<ZipOrigination>44106</ZipOrigination>

<ZipDestination>20770</ZipDestination>

<Pounds>5</Pounds>

<Ounces>8</Ounces>

<Container>NONRECTANGULAR</Container>

<Size>LARGE</Size>

<Width>15</Width>

<Length>30</Length>

<Height>15</Height>

<Girth>55</Girth>

</Package>

<Package ID="3RD">

<Service>ALL</Service>

<ZipOrigination>90210</ZipOrigination>

<ZipDestination>20770</ZipDestination>

<Pounds>8</Pounds>

<Ounces>32</Ounces>

<Container>RECTANGULAR</Container>

<Size>LARGE</Size>

<Width>15</Width>

<Length>30</Length>

<Height>15</Height>

<Machinable>true</Machinable>

</Package>

</RateV3Request>





If you have any questions, concerns or technical inquiries, please contact the USPS Internet customer Care Center via email at [email protected] or phone 1-800-344-7779.



Sincerely,





Patti Mason

Manager, USPS.com