USPS January 17, 2016 K8 BETA TEST SERVER ONLY

It's really hurting small E-tailers. I hear a lot of complaints about postage costs in general from customers (and business owners) in several Yahoo groups I belong to. They say they will think twice or forego an order altogether because of it.

The one last May definitely slowed down orders from International customers for both my clients' carts and my own cart. This one is only going to make it worse. I used to have over 50% of my orders be international now we'll see how far that drops again with this increase. :(

Also, one of my other clients uses the USPS Click-N-Ship online postage and with them discontinuing online rates for features and becoming strictly retail is going to slice that much more out of meager profits.

Oh well. My whining about it doesn't help change things. LOL!

Thanks,
Debbie

Remove, upload, install
Online first class rates now being quoted 13-15.999 ounces.

FYI,
Express FlatRate envelope: wow, increases 14.85 currently quoted Stamps.com account to 20.85 USPS test server.

Question:
Current K7 module only displays lowest Priority mail quote.
K8 displays all.
ie: SmFR, MedFR, RRa and PriorityMail selected in setup.

I don't recall customizing K7 to only show the lowest. I have not compared K7 to K8 to see the differences.

FYI: A switch from Click-N-Ship to Stamps.com via ShipStation will save time and money for your clients for a nominal expense. It also provides access to CPP pricing as well as CBP pricing for some Priority mail classes.

RixStix:

Question:
Current K7 module only displays lowest Priority mail quote.
K8 displays all.
ie: SmFR, MedFR, RRa and PriorityMail selected in setup.

Could you turn on your Debug Logs for both the USPS K7 and K8 modules and try identical quotes on both and attach the Shipping logs for these and post the rates that you see displayed on each one?

EDIT: OOOPS. That was the short circuit. In addition to me looking at the screen and not seeing the obvious.
SORRY, as I scrape the egg off my face....

I thought I found the problem, but the difference in settings did not resolve it.
I thought these Priority settings may have been causing a natural filter, but using them in K8 did not.

SMFR: 0-1.5#
RRAFR: 1.51-3.00#
MEDFR: 3.01-7.00#
Priority: 0-70#

RixStix:

EDIT: OOOPS. That was the short circuit. In addition to me looking at the screen and not seeing the obvious.
SORRY, as I scrape the egg off my face....

I thought I found the problem, but the difference in settings did not resolve it.
I thought these Priority settings may have been causing a natural filter, but using them in K8 did not.

SMFR: 0-1.5#
RRAFR: 1.51-3.00#
MEDFR: 3.01-7.00#
Priority: 0-70#

Could you try a Test and switch the TEST site just to Production, no other changes and same order and Zip that log and Attach it?

Initial problem caused due to min/max weights for Priority Mail classes on K8 test site not matching the K7 live site.
Once I matched the min/max weights of the PriorityMail classes, only a single PriorityMail quote is displayed in the K8 test site.
Typo, PriorityMail: 7.01-70 pounds instead of 0-70 pounds

I was blind in seeing there was no problem shown in the screenprints I had attached.

I think I may have made a change before your response, so I have a new Test and Prod log zipped and attached.
I notice a total weight of 0.95 pounds and no first class quote. Product weight 0.85 pounds + tare 0.1 pounds

So this means ... all is right in the world now? :lookaroun

Except the FirstClass quote for 0.95 pounds seems to have disappeared from the USPS-TestServer since earlier.
0.93 pounds gets quote
0.94 pounds does not yield quote

debug looks like 0.95 is seen as 0 pounds 16 ounces? instead of 15.2 ounces
0.94 pounds = 15.04 ounces
0.93 pounds = 14.88 ounces
to me, that seems like 15 ounces is the cutoff instead of 15.9999 ounces?

I do not recall changing things related to FirstClass since the original upload of K8-2 when I did get a quote.

Cart Weight: 0.85
Total Quote Weight: 0.95 Pounds: 0 Ounces: 16

Are you using the USPS K8 from post #33?

Ajeh:

Cart Weight: 0.85
Total Quote Weight: 0.95 Pounds: 0 Ounces: 16

Are you using the USPS K8 from post #33?
AFAIK
server timestamped 8:05 this morning

So is USPS saying that 15.xx is rounded to the next full ounce for quote but the new USPS first class allows 15.99 ounces and their quoting can only handle full ounces?

Version before post #33 would not quote 13-15 ounces

RixStix:

AFAIK
server timestamped 8:05 this morning

So is USPS saying that 15.xx is rounded to the next full ounce for quote but the new USPS first class allows 15.99 ounces and their quoting can only handle full ounces?

Version before post #33 would not quote 13-15 ounces

I suspect this is due to rounding based on Tare Rates ... I will be fooling with this tonight ...

From what I am seeing in your logs you have:
Maximum: 50 Tare Rates: Small/Medium: 0:0.1 Large: 10:0
Decimals: 2

A Product with a weight of 0.85 lbs and the Tare Rates of Tare Rates: Small/Medium: 0:0.1 Large: 10:0 that is making the order 16 oz due to rounding of weight 0.95 ... correct? :lookaroun

Ajeh:

Let us know what you find out ... :smile:

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/usps-announces-postage-rate-increase-starts-january-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/files/Rate%20Change/WallChart_Web-rate-change-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-information/rate-change-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

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.

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.

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

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

azzenner:

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 ... :lookaroun

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

Good luck on the new rates! :cool:

Ajeh:

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 ... :lookaroun

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

Good luck on the new rates! :cool:

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

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 ...

azzenner:

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 ... :blink:

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

Ajeh:

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

azzenner:

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 ...