USPS Shipping Method Settings.
This tutorial is for getting an end to end idea to configure USPS WooCommerce Shipping Plugin admin settings right.
Enable USPS Shipping Method.
The plugin settings can be accessed either directly clicking on ‘settings’ from WooCommerce plugins page (explained in our installation blog), or by going to Admin –> WooCommerce –> Settings -> Shipping –> USPS.
Checking ‘Enable/Disable’ check box will activate the shipping options provided by USPS plugin in Cart & Checkout page. By default after installing the plugin, this check box will be in unchecked state.
Note that disabling USPS Shipping method will only disable rates in cart / checkout page. Print Label and Tracking functionality can be still used from admin side individual order page.
USPS Method Title will be displayed in Cart/Checkout page in certain cases (as like a fallback or while showing cheapest rates.). By default it is set as ‘USPS’. This can be changed to desired name.
Origin post code must be set as the postcode from where you are shipping from.
Shipment Tracking Settings
‘Shipment Tracking’ can be enabled/disabled by choosing appropriate value from drop down as explained below. Tracking information in customer’s order completion email is part of feature.
Enable – This option will enable shipment tracking functionality to both admin order page and customer’s individual order page.
Disable for Customer – Choosing this option will disable tracking information only at customer end (Eg: Customer’s order page). Admin user still can utilize this feature.
Disable – This option will simply disable USPS shipment tracking functionality.
You can also opt for filling shipment tracking automatically at the time of create label. Other wise, you have to fill the tracking information manually after generating label from admin order page.
Print Label Settings
You can enable/disable only print label functionality from admin settings.
Currently, there is two file formats available for print label. PDF & TIF.
If ‘Print Label Size’ is chosen as ‘Compact’, labels will be getting printed in barcode only mode for domestic & 4×6 for international. In barcode only mode, no address will be shown in the label generated by USPS.
If ‘Print Label Size’ is chosen as ‘Default’, Full sized labels will be generated with a size of 8×11.
Label printing from admin side individual order page is automatic by default. Automatic means, the weights and dimensions from the items in the cart will be auto fetched, then packed and passed to USPS API to print label. There is no manual work needed in this case.
But, if you prefer giving custom dimensions and weight at the time of label printing, enabling ‘Manual Label Dimensions’ check box will solve it. After this option is checked, you will be prompted to enter the weight and dimensions manually while generating label. Please refer our section below on Admin side Label Printing for more detail on this.
Shipping From Address Settings
The Name and Address details should be entered to make print label work properly.
Please follow the description across each field to avoid any mistakes.
Email notification from USPS.com end while generating label will be triggered if email field is filled.
USPS WebTools User ID, Method Availability & Debug Mode.
You can restrict displaying the USPS shipping options in cart & checkout page to certain countries. By default after enabling shipping method, USPS shipping options will be available to all countries.
Enabling debug mode will start showing the row API request and response data going to USPS in the top of cart & checkout page. This is useful when shipping options are not showing up even after enabling USPS shipping method. You can read the row response from USPS from cart / checkout page to get an exact clue on the root cause.
Web tools User ID is optional for getting rates while checkout as it will use WooForce’s user id by default. But, If you are using our Print Label & Tracking functionality, you must obtain your own Web tools User ID as explained below.
Obtaining User ID and Permissions
You can obtain webtools user id by signing up on web tools account https://www.usps.com/business/web-tools-apis/welcome.htm (Not the one used for logging in to My USPS account) Permission for accessing Rates will come default while obtaining webtools user id. USPS Webtools Password is irrelevant for USPS API. Copy of the response after
Permission for accessing Rates will come default while obtaining webtools user id. You need additional permission for DeliveryConfirmation (for print label) and Tracking API which you will get it by contacting USPS customer service. Below error states your user id doesn’t have these additional permissions and should be contacted USPS tech support team (uspstechnicalsupport@mailps.custhelp.com) to obtain it.
Print Label functionality of our USPS plugin is with out Postage. Different ways of obtaining postage is explained in the description of our USPS product page. Also, For more information on postage payment options, follow this link to usps.com.
The mail content after registering User ID on USPS Web tools is given below.
Choose USPS Rates & Enable USPS Flat Rate Services
USPS Offline Rates are Post Office rates. Online rates are normally cheaper. There are discounted prices when printing postage online using Click-N-Ship for specific services.
There is option for setting a fallback amount, in case no services are returned from USPS.
Enabling Flat rate services will enable support for USPS flat rate boxes and rates and these rates are hard coded and no USPS API calls will be made to obtain it. A flat fee can be added on the top of the shipping cost for each flat rate services.
Display name of Express & Priority flat rate services can be changed to desired name.
USPS Real time Rates
Real time Rates from USPS API will start displaying once ‘Standard Services from the API’ is enabled.
There is option for setting a fallback amount, in case no services are returned from USPS.
Parcel packing can be either set as ‘Pack items individually’, ‘Pack in to boxes with weights and dimensions’ and ‘Weight Based’.
Pack items individually.
In case of ‘Pack items individually’, each quantity of item in the cart will be treated as separate package and shipping cost will be calculated accordingly.
For example, if shipping cost of Item X is $10, then if quantity 2 of Item X is added to the cart, the total shipping cost will become $10 x 2, which is $20.
Pack in to boxes with weights and dimensions.
You can define your box sizes in ‘Custom Box Dimensions’ section if your business don’t suits for individual packing. In this case, cart items will be packed in to those custom boxes defined. The best fit box will be auto chosen among the boxes defined.
You can follow our article to understand more in detail on setting up box dimensions.
Weight Based
Items with less than 12 inches (max dimension in any side) will be grouped together, packed and will be passed to USPS API to get the real time rates.
USPS Services
You can choose desired USPS services to display to Customer. Services not selected will not be shown. There is an option for price adjustment across each services where the adjustment amount can be mentioned in % and $.
Price Adjustment
Here is the scenario explained below by adding test product to the cart.
Scenario: (Pack Items Individually)
– 1 Item in cart
Shipping Cost of Priority Mail returned by USPS – $7.53
Price Adjustment for Priority Mail – $5
Total Cost Displayed for Priority Mail – $12.53
– 2 Items in cart
Priority Mail Shipping Cost by USPS x 2 – $7.53 x 2 = 15.06 (As each items considered as packed individually.)
Price Adjustment for Priority Mail- $5
Total Cost Displayed for Priority Mail– $20.06 (Attached screenshot)
The price adjustment remains same ($5) even if multiple items / more quantity is added. But cost for ground will get multiplied for each quantity as each item will be considered packed individually and shipped via USPS.
For ‘Pack in to boxes with weight and dimensions’, you must be having dimensions configured for individual products and boxes should be configured in USPS settings.
Offer Rates
You can either choose to offer all returned rates from USPS based on the services you have selected or you can opt for showing only single rate which is cheapest among all rates returned.
Check out our USPS WooCommerce Shipping with Print Label Plugin.
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