New update. Flat rate showing incorrectly now.

Hey @nightmarenewsnet

Would you be able to give us some ZIP codes to have a look at this and try to replicate, please?

Have you confirmed these prices on https://postcalc.usps.com/ ? We use the USPS API to pull in rates so if the details are correct, after giving those details to USPS via the API, this is the response they have given us.

Thanks,

yes I have confirmed the prices and even been able to pull them up manually with no issues using the same info as in my tests on woocommerce. If you look at the image I gave a link to you’ll see at the very top where it reads “Received rate: Flat Rate: Priority Mail ($7.10)” and then directly under it is showing “Regional Rate Box A1” The Spread sheet in the image is directly from the USPS website.
It looks like the received rate and the shipping type/box are getting crossed somewhere. I tired starting zip as Orlando 32789 to Seattle 98101 as well as Orlando to Orlando, Orlando to Dallas, Orlando to Bangor and a bunch of other ones. It says Flat rate but the box isn’t for the flat rate and the price isn’t either. In this one instance its showing 7.10 which is the padded envelope rate but I believe that to be coincidence as it showed other random prices too.

Hi @nightmarenewsnet

It appears you defined a custom package named Priority Mail Box - A1 under WooCommerce > Shipping > WooCommerce Services. The plugin treats this package as a regular package and returns a weight-based Priority Mail rate for it ($7.31).

At the same time, you seem to have enabled Priority Mail - Regional Rate Box A1 service in your shipping method settings. That’s all that is required to receive Regional Box rates. There’s no need to define custom packages for it. The rate is shown as Priority Mail: Flat Rate at checkout and its price of $7.10 is the same as Zone 1 pricing for regional rate boxes shown on https://postcalc.usps.com/

We appreciate this might be confusing and are working to improve the experience.

yes this is correct

It appears you defined a custom package named Priority Mail Box – A1 under WooCommerce > Shipping > WooCommerce Services. The plugin treats this package as a regular package and returns a weight-based Priority Mail rate for it ($7.31).

(except its “X Priority Mail Box – A1” though, it’s irrelevant just pointing it out) its what I was trying to do and there isn’t an issue with this one. I used different size boxes with different weights at different times. I could name it whatever. Regardless of what I used the Priority regular/zone shipping by weight always came up correct. There are no problems with this.

The Flat Rate is the issue. Priority mail Flat Rate is follows according to USPS

Padded Flat Rate Envelope $7.10
Small Flat Rate Box $7.05
Medium Flat Rate Boxes $12.85
Large Flat Rate Boxes$17.65

This should not come up as $7.10. At the very least it should be is $12.85
The dimensions and weight for the products are equal in size roughly to the box for the regional a1 so it should not be able to to place it in a Padded envelope.

I only defined a box the same as the A1 to test and see if it would come up correctly based on weight and size. I did other tests with other sized boxes, this was just the one I took the picture of. Again The issue is with the flat rate. As you can see it says

“Received rate: Flat Rate: Priority Mail ($7.10)” and then directly under it is showing “Regional Rate Box A1 (10 x 7 x 4.75 in, 56oz)”

Where as it should be:
“Received rate: Flat Rate: Priority Mail ($12.85)” and then directly under it should be “Medium Flat Rate Box”

The “Received rate: Priority Mail ($7.31)” and then directly under it showing “X Priority Mail Box – A1 (10 x 7 x 4.75 in, 58oz)” simply shows that its calculating the dimensions needed and the weight correctly.

At one point I loaded 7 more lbs in the cart and it came up with the large flat rate at $17.65 correctly while also showing the weighted zone shipping correctly too. The issue seems to be with the medium sized flat rate box pricing and calculations. It appears to be crossed somewhere.
as shown like “Received rate: Flat Rate: Priority Mail ($7.10)” and then directly under it is showing “Regional Rate Box A1 (10 x 7 x 4.75 in, 56oz)”

Where as it should be:
“Received rate: Flat Rate: Priority Mail ($12.85)” and then directly under it should be “Medium Flat Rate Box”

Your screenshot of the debug messages shows that the container for what is listed under Flat Rate: Priority Mail is the regional box a1, which costs the same as padded flat rate envelope for zone 1 – $7.10. This matches the USPS pricing calculator.

As I mentioned before, regional rate boxes get interpreted as Flat Rate containers by the plugin. The price and the debug output seem to match each other in this case.

Flat Rate Medium box – 11 x 8.5 x 6
A1 Regional rate Box – 10 x 7 x 4.75

As I mentioned before, regional rate boxes get interpreted as Flat Rate containers by the plugin.

I don’t see where you previously said this.

Either way, Why would this plug-in interpret a Regional Rate Box as a flat rate box (and then charge for an ENVELOPE price???) without it being coded incorrectly, either intentional or unintentional?

This is pricing for regional rates:

Weight Not Over (Lbs) L, 1 & 2 Zone 3 Zone 4 Zone 5 Zone 6 Zone 7 Zone 8 Zone 9
1 6.55 7.00 7.10 7.20 7.35 7.50 7.76 10.02
2 7.10 7.25 7.40 8.15 9.47 10.29 10.80 15.33
3 7.20 7.68 8.47 9.26 12.16 13.15 15.34 20.80
4 7.31 8.05 8.69 10.34 14.18 16.07 18.15 25.05
5 7.41 8.42 9.37 10.65 16.15 18.47 21.03 29.15
6 7.52 8.79 9.71 14.20 18.12 21.05 24.07 33.40
7 8.04 9.64 10.04 15.60 20.07 23.74 27.04 37.51
8 8.49 9.93 11.33 17.36 22.05 26.13 30.36 42.11
9 8.72 10.21 11.41 18.62 23.99 28.30 33.75 46.82
10 9.23 10.49 11.46 20.11 25.91 31.12 36.71 50.92
11 10.78 12.91 13.83 21.54 27.81 33.87 39.76 55.63
12 11.44 13.73 16.10 23.06 30.33 36.62 42.65 59.65
13 12.04 14.51 16.86 24.28 32.56 38.10 44.16 61.77
14 12.66 15.31 17.75 25.71 34.38 40.22 46.35 64.83
15 13.15 16.11 18.62 27.03 35.71 40.99 47.57 66.55
16 13.60 16.97 19.63 28.37 37.74 43.30 50.19 70.21
17 14.03 17.75 20.57 29.75 39.65 45.55 52.85 73.90
18 14.30 18.30 21.49 31.09 41.75 47.79 55.50 77.64
19 14.64 18.73 21.98 31.91 43.62 50.02 58.13 81.31
20 15.22 19.02 22.43 32.49 44.75 51.89 60.82 85.06
21 15.88 19.48 22.94 33.07 45.11 52.37 61.60 86.88
22 16.38 20.00 23.72 33.73 45.41 52.78 62.31 87.89
23 16.87 20.48 24.27 34.34 45.67 53.15 62.69 88.41
24 17.56 21.34 25.66 35.70 46.63 54.53 64.21 90.57
25 18.24 22.11 27.27 36.89 47.31 55.89 65.33 92.13
26 19.33 23.71 30.13 38.86 48.46 57.26 67.37 95.01
27 20.49 24.76 31.97 42.36 49.12 58.60 69.90 98.61
28 21.12 25.10 32.87 43.46 49.78 59.97 72.53 102.30
29 21.76 25.35 33.75 44.04 50.62 61.34 74.48 105.03
30 22.41 25.73 34.56 44.65 52.04 62.69 76.08 107.30
31 23.03 25.97 35.09 45.21 52.79 64.07 77.64 110.39
32 23.30 26.52 35.68 45.74 53.49 65.45 79.22 112.64
33 23.66 27.25 36.57 46.34 54.52 66.79 80.68 114.72
34 23.88 27.97 37.49 47.34 55.81 68.18 82.20 116.89
35 24.15 28.64 38.03 48.34 57.30 69.54 83.61 118.88
36 24.45 29.46 38.53 49.39 58.75 70.49 85.02 120.91
37 24.71 30.01 39.09 50.27 60.28 71.38 86.41 122.90
38 24.94 30.74 39.58 51.27 61.97 72.21 87.79 124.86
39 25.19 31.45 40.04 52.33 63.43 74.11 89.16 126.79
40 25.45 32.12 40.55 53.42 64.45 75.76 90.37 128.51
41 25.73 32.66 40.98 53.90 65.54 77.38 91.68 131.40
42 25.91 32.90 41.35 54.80 66.69 78.44 92.92 133.20
43 26.21 33.14 41.72 55.71 68.28 79.41 94.12 134.90
44 26.39 33.38 42.08 56.61 69.37 80.35 95.18 136.46
45 26.56 33.62 42.45 57.52 70.14 81.23 96.38 138.18
46 26.79 33.86 42.81 58.42 70.92 82.10 97.54 139.82
47 27.00 34.10 43.18 59.33 71.66 83.04 98.63 141.39
48 27.22 34.34 43.54 60.23 72.58 83.83 99.68 142.92
49 27.43 34.58 43.91 61.14 73.57 84.71 100.69 144.32
50 27.54 34.82 44.27 62.04 74.60 85.78 101.74 145.86
51 27.94 35.06 44.64 63.10 75.62 87.01 102.69 148.40
52 28.37 35.30 45.00 63.54 76.36 88.32 103.90 150.13
53 28.89 35.54 45.37 64.06 77.01 89.77 105.23 152.05
54 29.31 35.78 45.73 64.62 77.55 91.06 106.71 154.19
55 29.77 36.02 46.10 65.03 78.19 92.50 108.14 156.25
56 30.18 36.26 46.46 65.51 78.72 93.80 109.24 157.87
57 30.67 36.50 46.83 65.91 79.31 95.23 110.21 159.28
58 31.12 36.74 47.19 66.32 79.77 96.49 111.12 160.57
59 31.57 36.98 47.56 66.73 80.24 97.15 111.94 161.77
60 31.97 37.22 47.92 67.09 80.64 97.72 112.74 162.91
61 32.48 37.46 48.29 67.43 81.08 98.28 114.25 165.12
62 32.88 37.70 48.65 67.73 81.46 98.72 116.07 167.73
63 33.47 37.94 49.02 68.08 81.93 99.20 117.93 170.41
64 33.76 38.18 49.38 68.38 82.29 99.65 119.74 173.04
65 34.26 38.42 49.75 68.60 82.53 100.14 121.61 175.75
66 34.71 38.66 50.11 68.91 82.95 100.44 123.38 178.30
67 35.23 38.90 50.96 69.16 83.22 100.85 125.02 180.65
68 35.64 39.14 51.61 69.34 84.25 101.37 126.34 182.57
69 36.13 39.38 52.26 69.55 85.26 101.85 127.68 184.52
70 36.50 39.62 53.08 69.77 86.29 102.22 129.05 186.49

There are 560+ different prices for regional rates which are based on weight and distance. Where as there are 7 prices for FLAT which doesn’t matter the weight or the distance. Flat rate is not regional and regional is not flat

Flat Rate Envelopes 6.55
Legal Flat Rate Envelope 6.85
Padded Flat Rate Envelope 7.10
Small Flat Rate Box 7.05
Medium Flat Rate Boxes 12.85
Large Flat Rate Boxes 17.65
APO/FPO/DPO Large Flat Rate Box 16.15

The regional box A1 is based on weight. Not a flat fee.
Padded flat rate envelope for zone 1 is the same price for zones 1-9 its a FLAT rate regardless of zones. Its not based on weight or zones at all.

The regional boxes are both based on weight and distance.
Regardless of box size the zones go on weight. I could use a 20 x 20 x 20 box or a 2 x 2 x 2 box and it will be the same price if the weight is the same. in this case the weight is over 3 but under 4 lbs so its considered 4 lbs by the USPS.
the only time an A1 box would be $7.10 in zone 1 would be if it was 2 lbs.

The plugin selecting Flat rate but using an A1 box and a Zone one 2 lbs, price makes no sense.

Like I said before I used multiple boxes sizes and weights and every time (except when it was well over 10 lbs) the flat rate came up wrong. there were multiple times it came up with other rates instead of the $7.10. The $7.10 was just the picture I used. Sometimes is showed other random prices. I probably should have added different pictures to show that it wasn’t just giving this but the way this forum is set, makes it difficult as you can’t added pics, only links to them.

So bottom line, as you stated the plugin is interpreting regional and flat rate boxes interchangeably.

Regional Rate and Flat Rate are two TOTALLY different things and are NOT interchangeable.

I spent hours and hours testing and trying different combinations and found that there IS an issue there. Whether this was intentional or unintentional in the coding, it’s incorrect.

I have ultimately moved on to a different method I really just wanted to share my finding with your team so you could correct the issues.

Thanks

Thanks for reporting this – we will look into fixing the issue.

Hi @nightmarenewsnet,

I wanted to post a follow-up here and let you know that we are still looking at this issue. We’ll let you know here once it’s fixed.

Thanks for your patience!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Julia Amosova.