USPS changes in May 2007

Hello,

I'm using USPS as my primary shipping options. Lately I keep on getting emails from them saying that they will be revising their APIs on May 14th and I wonder if it will require any updates on my end. Can anyone of the developers shed some light on how this will affect (if at all) us?

P.S. Here are the USPS options that I use, just in case it matters:

I use ProductCart v.2.76p2

Thank You!

ProductCart currently uses Version 2 of the USPS API. According to the message sent by USPS, RateV2 will still be supported after the release of RateV3, so there should not be any disruption of service (i.e. USPS rates should still be returned after the new API is released). This makes sense to us as it would not be sensible for USPS to render existing online stores incapabable of showing USPS rates.

That said, the new API has features that we will want to incorporate into ProductCart. We plan to update the current implementation of USPS for ProductCart v3.1, which will be released in June of 2007.

The only issue, from what we can see, is for large packages sent via USPS Priority Mail, were the current API could return incorrect rates as the parameters used to calculate the rates have changed.

Specifically "[...] USPS is introducing a new dimensional weight pricing model for Large Priority Mail pieces. Dimensional weighting is a mechanism that converts the cubic size of a piece into a weight. If a large box is very light, it will be charged as a higher-weight piece, based on the International Air Transport Association (IATA) standard. This change only affects Priority Mail pieces larger than 1 cubic foot, and traveling to destinations within zones 5-8. [...]"

ProductCart v3.1 will "pass" to the new USPS API the package dimensions so that rates can be properly calculated, as long as the dimensions have been entered on a product by product basis using the Oversized Item settings in the Add/Edit product page. Otherwise, the default package dimensions will be used.

ProductCart v3.051 and below do not pass these values to USPS, which could result into incorrect USPS Priority Mail rates for large packages. Again, this is something that will be corrected with the 3.1 release.

This caught us by surprise as the previous communications by USPS seemed to indicate the opposite (as mentioned above). We are working on a fix and we will try to have it available as soon as possible.

We will post some information here and on the "Just In" section of the ProductCart Support Center as soon as our development team has created a fix.

Regarding the changes that just went into effect at USPS, there are several categories of mail services, especially for international services, that have been deleted and the names of others changed.

For example:
Global Express Mail is now Express Mail International
Airmail Parcel Post is now Priority Mail International

Is ProductCart v2.7 going to get an update so these new names can be reflected on the shipping preferences and settings?

To bad, we need the fix for 2.75.  Is there a way to have it available.