[ic] USPS Webtools APIs

[interchange-users@icdevgroup.org (Jim Balcom)]

On Sat, 5 Oct 2002, Jon wrote:

J>>    USPS has a web interface as well but that seems pretty laborious to
J>>me which I was trying to avoid.

We've played with that. It's a real bitch to wade through. We were also
inserting a credit card number and it would print out a label with postage
already on it.

The problem here is that if you ship 10 packages a day, you get 10 charges
on your charge card. Drives the bookkeeper nuts!

They double-charged us on a shipment to Canada. The computer locked up. I
had a very difficult time getting them to even investigate it. I did
eventually get the credit.

They do make shipping to Canada and other places very easy.

We buy all of our postage from Stamps.com. All in all, it's a great place to
deal with.

J>>    From what I've investigated and based on our product sizes (of course
J>>that could change) it appears that USPS has the best rates with Priority Mail.
J>>If you've found that not to be true then maybe I need to investigate again.

FedEx Ground is cheaper than Priority Mail almost across the board. PM says
2-3 days delivery time with no guarantee, and sometimes it goes to 4 or 5.

FedEx Ground guarantees their delivery times, and they do very well ay
meeting those.

We are near Washington, DC and to ship something to San Francisco takes
approximately 7 days by FedEx Ground and 3-4 days by PM. To ship something
to Harrisburg, PA is next day by FedEx Ground and about 3 days by PM. But
FedEx is always cheaper.

To qualify for FedEx Ground Pick-Ups you have to ship at least 3 days a
week. Pick-ups cost about 11 dollars per week.

To get PM pick ups you have to pay about $12 per DAY. Even when you are next
door to the Post Office!

FedEx has tracking every step of the way - in all services.
USPS can only tell you whether the package has been delivered or not, and
when. We use it only as a defense when the customer says that they didn't
get the package and we have proof that they did.


J>>> Within IC, I set up cost and zone tables on the computer and we do our
J>>> look-ups from there. The rates change only once a year. IC never contacts
J>>> FedEx.
J>>>
J>>
J>>    Yea, I've got that completed for USPS and UPS, but was trying to get to
J>>a more automated state.

This is completely automated. I only have to mess with it once a year when
they raise the rates, and I generally simply increase the surcharge
percentage in shipping.asc to compensate for the increase. I call it a
shipping and handling charge and try to get about a buck over the actual
cost to compensate for the boxes, the tape, labels, etc. No one has ever
complained.

-= Jim =-

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