USPS oversized items shipping cost
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Topic: USPS oversized items shipping cost
Posted By: katharina
Subject: USPS oversized items shipping cost
Date Posted: 22-June-2008 at 3:34pm
The post office has sizing restrictions, but they are not being reflected in the shipping cost. EI issued a fix for the international rates, but priority mail is still incorrect. Any idea when that will be fixed? We have a product that is clearly marked in the back office with a size of 32 * 8 * 8 inches. It is oversized for priority mail. We even added that to the product description that it must ship UPS, yet the customers still choose priority mail. Priority mail is being returned at a regular size rate and is cheaper then UPS. That is where customers are screwing us. They want the fast service at a fraction of the cost. They blame us for the incorrect check out.
Katharina
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Replies:
Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 22-June-2008 at 3:48pm
See http://pe.usps.gov/text/qsg300/Q120.htm
It explains how the 32*8*8 inches will automatically charged at a dimensional weight of 11 pounds, even it it only actually weights 3 pounds. Product card allows to put the size into the products backend, but ignores the dimensional weight rule for USPS.
Katharina
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Posted By: Hamish
Date Posted: 22-June-2008 at 4:55pm
Hi Katharina,
A couple of ideas that may work until a formal fix is available.
- Set the "weight" to 11lbs - with explanatory text that this "weight" is due to postal restrictions/ruling on sizes instead of the actual weight. (May not be a valid "solution" if they then choose UPS anyway).
- Add code to the shipping rules to check for that SKU or productid (assuming there is only 1 or a few) and only offer UPS if that product is being shipped.
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Posted By: Hamish
Date Posted: 22-June-2008 at 6:26pm
Hi Katharina,
Is the product definately marked as "oversized" via the radio button - I guess so as your post subject uses that word, but it's worth checking.
I just started a quick look at ShipRates.asp and the calculation is currently done as follows :-
USPS_PackageSize=(Cint(session("USPSPackLength"&q)) + ((Cint(session("USPSPackWidth"&q))*2)+(Cint(session("USPSPackHeight"&q))*2)))
-- Basically summing length & girth. Which for your parcel works out as 32+16+16 = 64 Which maps to Regular in the code.
REGULAR < 85 (See (1) below)
For totals over 131, USPS is, I believe, disabled.
Looking at the USPS website the CRUCIAL point seems to be the ZONE that the package is being shipped to as different rules apply :
<snip>
1) Parcels addressed for delivery to zones 1-4 (including local) that weigh less than 20 pounds but measure more than 84 inches in combined length and girth (but not more than 108 inches) are charged the applicable price for a 20-pound parcel (balloon price).
2) Parcels addressed for delivery to zones 5-8 that exceed 1 cubic foot (1,728 cubic inches) are charged based on the actual weight or the dimensional weight (as calculated in 123.1.3), whichever is greater.
</snip>
It seems the current calculation is handing the Zone 1-4 but not the zones 5-8
I must say the USPS system seems very complex.
As I don't have any info about USPS postal zones this is where I come unstuck, but I guess they are basically dependent on the distance from the shipping point, so a table of ZIP codes would probably be useful in discovering the "zone". It may well be already in PC - but as I don't use it I'm not familiar with it.
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Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 22-June-2008 at 7:09pm
I did everything right in the back office with the radio button etc. This is a new USPS change that became effect this spring when they send out the message about the API change. Even Endicia made a download available to make their postal printing software work right. I don't thing that EI needs to make many changes to make this work right either. The postal API should return all of this. I think it is more a thing of passing the info to the USPS API, so it can do it's thing. It did check the online interface of the post office and there they are looking at the dimensional weight. Here is what it does to the item listed above from Oregon to Maryland. Without dimensional weight 8.75, with dimensional weight 22.75. Big difference! I can't change the weight of the product either because I also offer UPS. People usually don't read all the print on the product page, so I have to be carefull with all the extra restriction etc. I wish we had the possibility to have certain items only go with one provider and others with both. Would work well with those that also ship food items, which need faster service. We also have many light weight items, which are way cheaper with priority mail compared to UPS. I hope that this will get fixed soon because we are now dealing with this on a daily basis, because our product is being used in time for the first day of school.
Katharina
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Posted By: Hamish
Date Posted: 22-June-2008 at 11:43pm
Hi Katharina,
This one woke me up again - why do some problems just stick in my head?
Anyway,
Your package at 32 * 8 * 8 equates to a "REGULAR" package (32+16+16)=64 which is <85.
According to the USPS API it will ignore the Length / Width /Height for "REGULAR" (I'm assuming this is a domestic shipment).
http://www.usps.com/webtools/htm/Rate-Calculators-v1-2.htm - see 2.1.3
This doesn't square (at least in my head) with it using dimensional weight. There's no mention on the USPS of dimensional weight at all. I'd check with USPS why this is as they seem to be missing something here.
There is code in ShipRates.asp that passes the dimensions in certain circumstances to USPS, so it's a fairly trivial change to add them for a "REGULAR" "priority" package, but according to the USPS doc it will be ignored. It may be worth experimenting by adding it and running a test order though.
Have you raised a support ticket with EA for this?
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Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 23-June-2008 at 2:22pm
We are getting closer to this issue. It does ignore sizing, if USPS domestic Priority Mail is shipped as "regular" size. It is deemed "large" if it goes over one cube, under which circumstance it will calculate the dimensional weight. So either we put some calculator in the product description page under oversized to figure out the "large" (meaning over one cube), or automatically have it go as "large" there since it is deemed oversized. It will return the right rate once the "large" gets passed on to the Postal API.
Katharina
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Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 23-June-2008 at 3:01pm
I've just raised a ticket with EI. Your input was really helpful, because now we have narrowed down what seems to be causing it. You are a charm and always so helpful.
Thanks,
Katharina
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