USPS Shipping Module by MarcoB - RateV4, IntlRateV2 - Support Thread

Hi creativeone,
Your question gave me an idea: A shipping quotes discount setting.

Is there any demand for that sort of thing? It could be based on the order size. Eg: x% of the orders products price.

I could set a 5% shipping discount on the orders. On an order with $100 worth of product if the shipping quotes are under $5 then shipping becomes free automatically.
This would allow the customer to have discounted access to expensive services like GXG, etc.

Is there demand for that sort of thing? I don't think it would be hard to implement on my end in the USPS module. I'm ultimately planning to overhaul the core shipping class and embed this functionality into the core. That way all shipping modules get this functionality from centralised settings.

Hi Marco,
It is for domestic only.

Yes I think there would be a demand for a shipping quotes discount. I could think of a couple of my clients that may want to use that. Thanks Marco.

Quick question regarding the 'USPS Shipping Module - RateV4, IntlRateV2'.

I'm running a significantly modified version of 1.3.8a and will not have time to upgrade to 1.3.9h before Aug 24th.

Is the new ''USPS Shipping Module - RateV4, IntlRateV2' module backwards compatible with 1.3.8a?

If not, does anyone have an idea how difficult it would be to get it to function against 1.3.8a.

I do plan to upgrade to 1.3.9h as soon as possible (due to security vulnerabilities) but with my current project stack, I will not be able to do so within the required time frame.

Many thanks in advance,

Rob Chevalier

With shipping modules, chances are it will all probably work. The modules are mostly standalone components so they should be very backward compatible unless there was a major change in the way shipping modules work.

You'll just have to test it and find out. I only test using the latest version.

I changed the handling fee from 0.25 to 0.45 to cover additional fees, and the system is still charging 0.25. (on both first class and priority).

I removed the module and re-installed it, that did not work. I also checked the database and it is set to 0.45.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Kat

I'm sorry if this has been asked/answered, I'm not understanding the handling fee issues in this thread (?)

The magic ZC genie swooped in and fixed this all by itself.

This has happened before where I changed something in this mod (I think it was the handling fee as well), and later on it started working.

All is good :clap:

I have posted an updated version of the module - Version 1.2 which should come online within the next week or so.

The new version has a few improvements:

Added Quote Discount Setting based on a percentage of order products value.
Added quote sort options for shipping quotes. Can sort by price or by service name.
Improved documentation
Improved shipping estimator functionality. Does not request a quote from USPS when a postcode is not provided.
Changed module default options - now fewer options selected on a fresh install.
Tweaked the hardcoded volumes/dimensions on some shipping options for consistency between International and Domestic (where practical)
Check the module documentation for more details!

Marco

Hi Marco,

Would it be possible to seperate charges for Signature Confirmation and Insurance as options?

i.e.

●USPS First Class Mail $1.71

□ Add Insurance (value of order) $1.50 (amt to chg from USPS)

□ Add Signature Confirmation $2.45

KSpencer:

Hi Marco,

Would it be possible to seperate charges for Signature Confirmation and Insurance as options?

i.e.

●USPS First Class Mail $1.71

□ Add Insurance (value of order) $1.50 (amt to chg from USPS)

□ Add Signature Confirmation $2.45

I have thought about something like that. The tickbox options would require changes in the zc-core:
/includes/modules/pages/checkout_shipping/header_php.php
Also some template customisation.

Some people might want to force signature confirmation for extra security and not make it optional.

There are so many possible combinations. Some people might not want the extra options displayed and just have the extra cost added on the way it is now.

This was my attempt at being practical. I see no easy way to add that at this stage. If anyone has any ideas on how to improve it without core changes, speak up!

Marco

Hi Marco,

These two items, in addition to postage, are probably the "most common" items to add as options for domestic shipping. (I would think).

For insurance, it would be a flat rate table (0-50 add $1.80, 51-100 add 2.35, etc)

For Signature Confirmation, its a flat rate per order, so Add $2.45 checkbox would do it.

I've visited several (dozens) of ZC sites searching for their solutions, and the most common method I see (I am using this also), is to add the Insurance and Signature Confirmation as a product. This creates a group of problems by itself but is a temporary solution. There is an insurance module out there, but it shows up under the payment page (something to do with the Order Totals).

I'm thinking of modifying one of the already existing 'additional' charges type mods. Eventually I hope to be good enough to write one on my own. (Plugging along)

Thanks so much,
Kat :-)

I'm just thinking of a way to integrate it.

If it is only 2 options I might be able to do it with dropdown select boxes in the module config.

Eg.
Insurance Options: No Insurance, Quote Both with and without, Quote with Insurance Only (no text), Quote with Insurance Only (text " - Insured")

I could do the same for signature confirmation.

Depending on what options/services you select the customers available options could double.

• Priority Mail
• Priority Mail - Insured
• etc...

I would favour this over the flat rate option since the USPS quote system handles price changes automatically.

Also, some services have $100 insurance coverage built in, like some flat rate boxes and express options. USPS handles that by quoting $0.00 for insurance automatically without custom code changes on my part.

I've been playing with this on my test site. I don't ever seem to get quotes for regional rate boxes. Anything that could be turning those quotes off?

-lindasdd

Do you have ENABLE COMMERCIAL SHIPPING set to "Y"

** AND**

Do you have the Regional boxes selected in the Domestic - Commercial Services area of setup?

Version 1.2 is now live, you can download it here: USPS Module V1.2

I tested it on the beta and its looking good requiring no code changes on my part. The USPS language file from Zencart 1.3.9 will be added into the next update for compatibility with 1.5 (since the original USPS module is no longer pre-installed in Zencart 1.5.)

I'm going to add entries to the language file in my next release for insurance quoting and signature confirmation. That will allow people to easily customise the options/presentation.

I'm having a bit of a problem, I upgraded from V1.1 which was fine. But now this happens in debug

weight: +lb, dimensions: regular
Setting dimensions: l=12 w=12 h=12 for Weight: 0.3
Volume Filtering enabled but volume information not found. Was the database patch applied?

EDIT: Ahhh looks like all my shipping weights were reset.

One question I had, when I start combining items, it'll show all the shipping rates it can do. How can I just default it to show just the cheapest option?

Hey, I read the readme but I dont understand how this is different then the default usps shipping module? To be honest i havnt used the default one. please let me know.

@bpoilspill
If you re-applied the database patch your volume info would be reset. I'll put a note in the documentation for next time so people know to only apply the patch once.

The module doesn't have an option to exclude all the more expensive options. Some people might want the more expensive options showing for express delivery and things like that.

I was considering filtering out larger flat rate options if a smaller option is available with filtering switched on. Is that what you wanted or should it remove everything more expensive?

@wildchick
This module has allot of extra options, and it should also run faster since it has request caching and some code optimization. It uses the PHP SimpleXML library to parse the USPS API response (faster) instead of using lots of regular expressions. It supports insurance and many other options.

You can put the other one back if you don't use any of that.

Yes!!! That is what I meant, as we just use flat rate currently, so there's no sense in offering a more expensive option.:clap:

Marco B:

@bpoilspill
If you re-applied the database patch your volume info would be reset. I'll put a note in the documentation for next time so people know to only apply the patch once.

The module doesn't have an option to exclude all the more expensive options. Some people might want the more expensive options showing for express delivery and things like that.

I was considering filtering out larger flat rate options if a smaller option is available with filtering switched on. Is that what you wanted or should it remove everything more expensive?

@wildchick
This module has allot of extra options, and it should also run faster since it has request caching and some code optimization. It uses the PHP SimpleXML library to parse the USPS API response (faster) instead of using lots of regular expressions. It supports insurance and many other options.

You can put the other one back if you don't use any of that.

Also, is there a way to prevent sales to non-US countries?? Currently a sale will go through with a US domestic service even to somewhere like Canada.