USPS and tracking/confirmation

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   I really like the integration of UPS shipment notification and keeping the customer within the website - when they view their tracking. (I have found it advantageous to provide autologin via the email notification to the user account - many customers have lost/forgotten their username and password).
I am currently using vs 2.76
However, the bulk of my mailings are via USPS. Can you help or steer me towards how to achieve a similar notification to customers using USPS? I have to admit I could not get the USPS API functional but gave up as I did not need the realtime calculation of shipping rates. I use flat rates  - so weight based USPS rates is a non-issue. However, I do want to get email notification to customers with their USPS confirmation number and enable them to view the status from within the site (currently I have to send them out to www.usps.com tracking). I have the email notification happening - I need the API for the tracking/confirmation.
Please help!

Edited by geoff - 08-April-2007 at 7:03pm

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geoff Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-January-2006 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote geoff Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: USPS and tracking/confirmation Posted: 08-April-2007 at 7:02pm
	I really like the integration of UPS shipment notification and keeping the customer within the website - when they view their tracking. (I have found it advantageous to provide autologin via the email notification to the user account - many customers have lost/forgotten their username and password). I am currently using vs 2.76 However, the bulk of my mailings are via USPS. Can you help or steer me towards how to achieve a similar notification to customers using USPS? I have to admit I could not get the USPS API functional but gave up as I did not need the realtime calculation of shipping rates. I use flat rates - so weight based USPS rates is a non-issue. However, I do want to get email notification to customers with their USPS confirmation number and enable them to view the status from within the site (currently I have to send them out to www.usps.com tracking). I have the email notification happening - I need the API for the tracking/confirmation. Please help! Edited by geoff - 08-April-2007 at 7:03pm

rotokirby Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 22-April-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote rotokirby Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21-November-2007 at 3:11am
	Were you able to get something working for this Geoff? I'd basically like the USPS tracking numbers to work just like UPS does currently...show them the results in site as well as provide a working tracking link in the shipping notification email. Cheers!

geoff Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-January-2006 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote geoff Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21-November-2007 at 6:50am
	I have the USPS confirmation numbers daily in two sources. STAMP.com and in a CSV file. I extract the STAMPS.com info with a screen macro to get a CSV file. I then use an Excel macro to filter both CSV files for the information that I need and create a daily output csv file. (I also need to create two other formatted files for other web platforms). I then use another web browser marco to place the shipped information on an order # basis into ProductCart. All macros are scheduled to run at a set time without human interference. I check once a day that the various stages worked as expected. This is time consuming to set up, deal with error trapping, and maintain - so I would hope you can find a better route - but it is one idea.

geoff Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 15-January-2006 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote geoff Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21-November-2007 at 6:54am
	One other thing - the standard shipping notification email has been altered so that the customer does not need to login to get their message. One click takes them to their shipping notification productcart message. The page that they arrive at is dressed up to provide a host of customer service elements in addition to tracking. (I have added a request feedback score to this page but this gets a lot fewer clicks that I had hoped).