ozpost shipping module

[Mike_Dean]

Have you ever heard of "IceTV"?

Cheers
Rod

I'm fully aware of what IceTV is, and also fully aware that there are other free services that offer the very same information that IceTV indeed charges you for.

If the implication is that the ozpost server is nothing more than a 'relay agent' to the Australia Post server and that I'm trying to 'cash in' on their data then you clearly have little or no concept about the code behind the server.

Not sure where I have ever given any impression that I understood it merely as a relay agent or gateway to external information..

I know too well what you have done in order to provide this service, as you would know too well the assistance you have provided me, AND my constant show of appreciation. No, not in the monetary sense, but have you ever suggested it in your signature ?

As I also CLEARLY stated in my last response, I have no objection to paying a fee of sorts, I was merely expressing what I'm sure a lot of others have muttered to their keyboards and not bothered to press the keys.!

.... and then there are the insults and name calling that I am often subjected to because I can't/don't always give the answers that people want.

Lets call a spade a spade here Rod, your pretty good at handing out the insults tooo.. some I have felt were totally justified, but others.. well..

Are you trying to say that I don't also have a right to charge people to maintain the ozpost servers that they are using?

Your trying to read too much between the lines of what I and or others are saying... I for one would not for a minute have drawn a parallel to your support of the servers..

That increase in postage rates a few weeks ago, did that data 'magically' appear in the database? No, silly me had to manually input the data (That's ok, I had nothing else planned for that weekend anyway).

That's the price you/we pay for providing a service.

And as a suggestion, it is these 'behind the scenes' services that are provided that need to be highlighted when setting the rates.
People want to know exactly what they are getting for their money. People don't part with money on my store unless they know exactly what they are getting, and I, like a lot of people are the same.

Mike, what you (and others) need to realise is that, like it or not, it takes me a lot of time and effort to maintain the code and user support of this module. I have managed to do this for the last three years because I've not been obligated to "work"... Instead, I have been a fulltime student (which is about a half time workload). Needless to say, 4 years study with no work has eaten most of any savings I had, so, sometime in the next few months I'm going to have to:

A) Get a fulltime job - Which means NO MORE SUPPORT. NO MORE DEVELOPMENT and NO MORE MAINTENANCE. Ozpost, will literally 'die'. - End of discussion.

B) Get a part time job, and prop up the difference with ozpost subscriptions. To do this, and make it worthwhile (and acceptable to centerlink, who would prefer I worked fulltime, or lose all benefits) I need to produce the equivlilent of 15hrs paid work per week. To achieve this I need a 'conversion rate' of around 10% (I'm actually counting on only 2%, but I'm HOPING for more ), and if I can't achieve this target I'll be back to option "A" again. However, in this instance, I should still be able to find time to continue to support the *few* that have supported me.

In summary, the next few months are going to be critical in regards to whether there will even be an 'ozpost' shipping module at all by the end of the year. "Early supporters" will get continued support (or full a refund), but the project itself will be dropped as a lost cause ... I'll move on to other projects instead.

Cheers
Rod

Rod, I (and perhaps others) fully appreciate your position and do not for a minute take it for granted as my god given right to have this service for free. The fact that it has been until now is neither here nor there.

Again I will state that I have not objection to a fee of sorts, or your need to impose one.

But you also need to realize that some of us are in the exact same position as you in regards to financial situations.

I would love my store to be my source of income, to be able to sit back and watch the orders roll in, but alas, despite a lot of effort and long long nights, its not the case, and I have a Full time day job in order to provide for my family.

So yes, any additional fee, regardless of the amount, is going to cause those with little turnover to question it, where as those with larger stores or larger turnovers, probably would not blink an eye..

Lastly.. I will ante up.. (It was never an issue) as I need the service, but I do feel better for my at least expression my piece..



Thanks,
Mike

[RodG]

I'm fully aware of what IceTV is, and also fully aware that there are other free services that offer the very same information that IceTV indeed charges you for.

They also offer that little 'extra' that others don't... Something I'm quite happy to pay for, and frankly, I wouldn't have the balls to suggest to them that they are asking me to pay for something I can get for free.

Not sure where I have ever given any impression that I understood it merely as a relay agent or gateway to external information..

My apologies, I wasn't thinking of you specifically, but that IS the general impression I seem to be getting from a number of peoples' comments.

I know too well what you have done in order to provide this service, as you would know too well the assistance you have provided me, AND my constant show of appreciation. No, not in the monetary sense, but have you ever suggested it in your signature ?

Well, yes, I have actually, also in the 'credits.txt' file. It is/was only recently (the last release or so) where I dropped this.

As I also CLEARLY stated in my last response, I have no objection to paying a fee of sorts, I was merely expressing what I'm sure a lot of others have muttered to their keyboards and not bothered to press the keys.!

Sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you, but yes, I *know* you are only expressing what many others must be feeling. This is why I'm only expecting a 2% conversion rate. 99% of users will agree with all you have stated, of those, only 1% will put thier thoughts in writing, the other 98% will say nothing and go on to use alternative methods. .

Lets call a spade a spade here Rod, your pretty good at handing out the insults tooo.. some I have felt were totally justified, but others.. well..

Granted, I give you that, but in my defence, I would suggest those times when you probably felt they weren't justified it is because you had only seen a part of the 'story'.

OK, so I may occasionally have had a bad day and been oversensitive to some comments too... I'm only human. (sometimes)

Your trying to read too much between the lines of what I and or others are saying...

Possibly.

And as a suggestion, it is these 'behind the scenes' services that are provided that need to be highlighted when setting the rates.

The telephone company, Electric company and water company don't need to highlight the 'behind the scenes' services whrn they set their rates. Manufactiring companies don't need to highlight all of their production costs when they set their rates, so although I *agree* in principle that this could be a good idea for setting MY rates, the onus is really on the end user to see the value of the service, or not, whichever the case may be,

People want to know exactly what they are getting for their money. People don't part with money on my store unless they know exactly what they are getting, and I, like a lot of people are the same.

If you haven't already done so, please visit http://ozpost.net. It's not much, but I think it gives a pretty good idea what people will be getting for their money. (If you have any other suggestions for this 'site' I would really appreciate your input).

What isn't/hasn't been mentioned yet is that one of the major problems with using the ozpost.vcsweb.com server or the 'official' Australia Post server (drc.edeliver.com.au) is that neither has any form of redunancy or backup, which really isn't a good situation for ANY store to be placed in - Ergo, we've registered and set up this completely new/independant server so that if one server goes down (as rare as it is) the other should still be fully functional.

Rod, I (and perhaps others) fully appreciate your position and do not for a minute take it for granted as my god given right to have this service for free.

Mike, if *every* (or even most) user had this attitude I probably wouldn't been as burned out, frustrated, and continuing what appears(ed) to be a moslty thankless task as I am, and perhaps it wouldn't be veiwing it as 'work' for which I need compensation for - It would actually be a pleasure (not that it hasn't been). I've really enjoyed seeing people use this module and helping them with problems, but Alas, this *isn't* the case ... most people *aren't* like you. You may have written what many are thinking, but I can assure you, you will be in the minority when it comes to the crunch.

Again I will state that I have not objection to a fee of sorts, or your need to impose one.

As I said, that will place you in the 2% minority - even though you are speaking for the majority.

But you also need to realize that some of us are in the exact same position as you in regards to financial situations.

Perhaps not in exactly the same position. (Not really wanting to go into personal issues, but for the last 4years I've been in legal battles with my 5 siblings for the right to keep or live in my own home of 30years). Even if/when I win the case I'm going to be pretty much bankrupt and homeless as a result of the legal fees).

So yes, any additional fee, regardless of the amount, is going to cause those with little turnover to question it, where as those with larger stores or larger turnovers, probably would not blink an eye..

This is true, a couple of the larger stores have already opted for the 12 and 36 month option, and while I can see that the smaller stores may question the value, it is after all, less than a cup of coffee per week, and if this is enough to make or break a store then perhaps those people should consider the viablity of their stores in the first place.
Chances are such stores are already running at a loss, so if my asking fee is enough to bring about the demise of their store then perhaps in the longer term I'm actually doing these people a favour?

Lastly.. I will ante up.. (It was never an issue) as I need the service,

No, really Mike, you don't NEED the service at all, I'm sure you'll get by quite well without it. You simply *appreciate* the service and what it can provide you. At least I *hope* that is your reasoning.

but I do feel better for my at least expression my piece..

Me too :-)

Cheers
Rod

[robbie269]

Hi Rod

I found the line in the tpl_modules_shipping_estimator.php and deleted it. I could not find the line in the ozpost.php. However I am still getting the error.
I know you are under siege at the moment and the error does not seem to be fatal. So there is no rush. Just when you get a chance.

Rob

[robbie269]

Hi Rod

I think it's fixed. I uninstalled the module then copied ALL the 2.0.8 files over and it seems OK.

Oops: I tell a lie, it's still doing it??

Rob

[reuben]

Yeah, that's what they all say...

In four years I've had four donations. Where was yours?

Pfft. I haven't donated because I don't use the ozpost module. lol

FYI I donate to ZenCart monthly, and various other open source solution providers.

So, where are you going to stand in this regard now? Are you going to be like the (expected) 98% of users that will be saying "So long, and thanks for all the fish", or do you plan to make a "voluntary donation" to help keep the service running a little while longer? (For each $5 or $10 you donate I will add an extra month to your server access). :-)

I'm on this thread because I was going to start using ozpost, but now in light of all this, I'm not.

Hope it goes well for you. A lot of people are depending on it.
Reuben

[tpeck]

Rod, you say you're getting your Fastway quotes from http://www.fastway.com.au/1PriceServiceCalc.html

I always check them there too.

I'm assuming you are entering them manually, so here's a typical case:

Customer in Melb. wants a parcel sent under 5kgs from us in Sydney.



Fastway quote(s) online on their website are:



Can you tell us what logic you are using to get the figure of $11.00?

I realise there is a range of label prices - it says so - but I would be paying $12.05 not being a frequent user.

Maybe this is where my idea of a sliding percentage scale (per shipper) might actually work to make the quotes spot on???

[RodG]

Hi Rod

I think it's fixed. I uninstalled the module then copied ALL the 2.0.8 files over and it seems OK.

Oops: I tell a lie, it's still doing it??

Rob

Try deleting all/any tpl_modules_shipping_estimator.php files that you have laying around... all except the zencart original of course.

If that solves the problem then re-install the copy from the V2.0.8 distribution. I have double checked this and it already has the errant line of code commented out.

If it doesn't solve the problem we are going to have to dig a lot deeper.

Cheers
Rod

[RodG]

Rod, you say you're getting your Fastway quotes from http://www.fastway.com.au/1PriceServiceCalc.html

Correct.

I'm assuming you are entering them manually,

Incorrect.

so here's a typical case:
Customer in Melb. wants a parcel sent under 5kgs from us in Sydney.



Fastway quote(s) online on their website are:



Can you tell us what logic you are using to get the figure of $11.00?

Using the axample provided, the module *should* be returning a result of $12.05 (unless you have the Frequent user flag set, in which case it should return $9.52

I realise there is a range of label prices - it says so - but I would be paying $12.05 not being a frequent user.

Based on what I see above, yes, you should be quoted $12.05

Maybe this is where my idea of a sliding percentage scale (per shipper) might actually work to make the quotes spot on???

Methinks the better solution is for me to try to replicate the data and figure out exactly what is going on. As with most discrepancies of this nature I suspect that the data that you are entering online isn't the same data being submitted by the store.

I'll get back to you a little later with my findings.

Cheers
Rod

[RodG]

Can you tell us what logic you are using to get the figure of $11.00?

OK, Just had a look, but found nothing to explain it yet.

My test data:
fromcode=2000
destcode=3079
FastWay=SYD
weight=1000
height=50
width=50
length=50

On the Fastaway site this produces the exact same results as your sample graphic , namely, Red label $9.52 - $12.05

Using this same data on the ozpost site, produces a Red label quote of $12.10 (the FW server will often use odd cents, the ozpost server rounds up to the nearest 10cents).

You can see this for yourself with the following link:

http://ozpost.net/postage.php?fromco...le&version=1.0

So, the question is, what data is your store sending that causes an $11.00 quote?

I'll continue to experiment a bit even later today, but meanwhile I thought I'd share these preliminary findings with you, mainly because you are in a better position to see what data is being sent at any given time than I am.

Cheers
Rod

[robbie269]

Hi Rod

Deleted any the tpl_modules_shipping_estimator.php files except the default one. Still getting the errors. Sorry!

Rob