1/28/10: USPS Shipping Module Slow today?

I noticed all of the sudden that it's taking about 1+ MINUTE for the USPS.php shipping module to return postage results. This just started happening within the last 24 hours. Can anyone else confirm it?

If I uninstall the module, the shipping estimator and checkout page loads quick. If I install the module (using the latest version B released by the ZC team), the long delay occurs and it causes people not to complete the checkout process because they think it's hung.

Is something going on with the USPS because if so, I would imagine others are experiencing this same delay.

BTW - When I turned on the debugging, this is what I saw. I noticed there is an error in there:

<RateV3Response><Package ID="0"><ZipOrigination>95376</ZipOrigination><ZipDestination>13209</ZipDestination><Pounds>2</Pounds><Ounces>0</Ounces><Size>REGULAR</Size><Zone>8</Zone><Postage CLASSID="3"><MailService>Express Mail</MailService><Rate>28.90</Rate></Postage></Package><Package ID="1"><Error><Number>-2147219434</Number><Source>DomesticRatesV3;clsRateV3.ValidateWeight;RateEngineV3.ProcessRequest</Source><Description>First Class mail must weigh 13 ounces or less.</Description><HelpFile></HelpFile><HelpContext>1000440</HelpContext></Error></Package><Package ID="2"><ZipOrigination>95376</ZipOrigination><ZipDestination>13209</ZipDestination><Pounds>2</Pounds><Ounces>0</Ounces><Size>REGULAR</Size><Zone>8</Zone><Postage CLASSID="1"><MailService>Priority Mail</MailService><Rate>9.55</Rate></Postage></Package><Package ID="3"><ZipOrigination>95376</ZipOrigination><ZipDestination>13209</ZipDestination><Pounds>2</Pounds><Ounces>0</Ounces><Size>REGULAR</Size><Machinable>TRUE</Machinable><Zone>8</Zone><Postage CLASSID="4"><MailService>Parcel Post</MailService><Rate>8.09</Rate></Postage></Package></RateV3Response>

The 'error' you mentioned is simply telling you that FIRSTCLASS is not an option for the requested quote details, despite the fact that a quote was requested for it. It's entirely unrelated to performance problems.

Slowness in response for quotes for the USPS module is almost always due to a problem on the USPS end.

Yes, I am seeing a few other posts here from other users experiencing the same thing. Looks like the USPS is screwing things up right now for everyone.

The slowness with USPS has been going on most of the month in little spurts with anything from a 0 to 90 second delay that can last from 1 minute to hours ...

There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the delays as multiple sites will not necessarily have the delays at the same times and when it is at its worse for one site, another will be humming along happily ...

I have found things where I test the checkout_shipping and get the error for USPS and just click on Checkout and all is fine ...