USPS January 17, 2016 K8 BETA TEST SERVER ONLY

[azzenner]

Let us know what you find out ...

It's still very confusing about Domestic Priority Mail Express Retail or Commercial Base rates. I can't seem to find specifics on it at the USPS website. Trying to find any understandable information there is useless at best. I have been Googling my brains out trying to find specifics elsewhere.

According to Stamps.com, both domestic flat rate and packages for Priority Mail Express are going up for at least Commercial Base (they don't mention retail) and they are doing away with the flat rate box.
http://blog.stamps.com/2015/10/22/us...nuary-17-2016/

According to Pitney Bowes, it is going up for both Retail and Commercial Base pricing by an average of 14% (more for commercial).

If you scroll down to page 5 in this PDF, it talks about new Retail rates.
http://support.pb.com/library/PBKB/f...ge-jan2016.pdf

In this link, it shows an increase for both Retail and Commercial, but only mentions Zone 1 & 2. Zone 5,6,&7 actually have a tiny decrease.
http://www.pitneybowes.com/us/postal...info.html?tab2

In my testing, the prices are not coming back as higher from the USPS test server over what they were before. Whether this is correct or not I can't say, but I am getting a value back in the estimator.

This is for a 14.4 oz box for a zone 5 address for non-flate-rate Priority Mail Express. My client has only configured the module to calculate Domestic Priority Mail Express (no flat rate envelopes or boxes), and does not offer it for International.

Since it's extremely rare that my client ships that way, I'm about ready to call it a day. Everything else seemed to work as expected, after the fix you upload this morning. :)

Thanks,
Debbie J

[RixStix]

Yes, those are the settings.
Given that, it looks like the USPS rounds anything up to the next ounce. That is how printing postage works.
So obtaining a quote for anything between 15.001 and 15.999 will be rounded to 16 ounces by the USPS and invalidated for first class use because 16 ounces exceeds the spec for 1st class ????

That's fine if it works that way. I won't loose any sleep over that and surely do not expect you to either.

I just found out that the 13-15.999 ounce rate has been available to CPP users for a while but Stamps.com conveniently disables it.

[Ajeh]

Yes, those are the settings.
Given that, it looks like the USPS rounds anything up to the next ounce. That is how printing postage works.
So obtaining a quote for anything between 15.001 and 15.999 will be rounded to 16 ounces by the USPS and invalidated for first class use because 16 ounces exceeds the spec for 1st class ????

That's fine if it works that way. I won't loose any sleep over that and surely do not expect you to either.

I just found out that the 13-15.999 ounce rate has been available to CPP users for a while but Stamps.com conveniently disables it.

I tried use on Small/Medium Tare: 0:0.087

Which does work, but how does this affect other things?

[Ajeh]

Since it's extremely rare that my client ships that way, I'm about ready to call it a day. Everything else seemed to work as expected, after the fix you upload this morning. :)

Thanks,
Debbie J

As we cannot control the rates that USPS quotes, I can only say talk directly to USPS if you have additional questions about the rates as I honestly do not know ... and honestly, it is not high of my lists of cares and concerns at this moment ...

Thanks for the update on the info that you have discovered so far!

Good luck on the new rates!

[azzenner]

As we cannot control the rates that USPS quotes, I can only say talk directly to USPS if you have additional questions about the rates as I honestly do not know ... and honestly, it is not high of my lists of cares and concerns at this moment ...

Thanks for the update on the info that you have discovered so far!

Good luck on the new rates!

No problem! I understand and it isn't a priority for me either at this point. I was just frustrated at the lack of clear information from USPS.

You do a great job, despite having to deal with literally last-minute changes from the USPS interface and I'm sure it must be a nightmare to work with them. I appreciate all you do, believe me. If we didn't have you for our USPS interface Guru we'd be in hot water.

Thanks again,
Debbie

[Ajeh]

RixStix ... On the Shipping Estimator, do you have that set to Button or on the shopping_cart page or off?

NOTE: If I checked the right site, I just noticed you do not display the weight on the shopping_cart page for USPS nor anywhere else that I checked (other than on FedEx) ... so, my question has no meaning here ...

[Ajeh]

You do a great job, despite having to deal with literally last-minute changes from the USPS interface and I'm sure it must be a nightmare to work with them. I appreciate all you do, believe me. If we didn't have you for our USPS interface Guru we'd be in hot water.

Thanks again,
Debbie

You have no idea the fun of trying to interpret USPS changes ... or debug their Test Server for them when they say it is ready for testing the changes ...

Good news is sometimes, their develoeprs are very helpful when I get stuck ...

[azzenner]

On the Shipping Estimator, do you have that set to Button or on the shopping_cart page or off?

Linda, if you were asking me, there's a button showing on the shopping cart contents page that says "Estimate Shipping" and it pops up, they select/fill in their location info & hit the update button for the estimate to appear. Is that what you were asking?

Thanks,
Debbie

[Ajeh]

Linda, if you were asking me, there's a button showing on the shopping cart contents page that says "Estimate Shipping" and it pops up, they select/fill in their location info & hit the update button for the estimate to appear. Is that what you were asking?

Thanks,
Debbie

If you are using that way I would be interested in peeking at your site if you display weight on the Shipping Estimator ...

[azzenner]

If you are using that way I would be interested in peeking at your site if you display weight on the Shipping Estimator ...

In admin, in the module we do have "display weight" and "display transit time" clicked on. But the weight doesn't show on the estimator popup. (I don't believe it ever has, but it hasn't been an issue.) Estimated transit time does. The weight from the item master does show on the item detail page. Here's an example from her test site:

EDIT: Oops... correcting link...

http://www.fundametals.net/zenFM151T...oducts_id=1565
Thanks,
Debbie