Once the USPS Live Rates shipping method was added within the shipping zone for which its services should be displayed, use its configuration screen to manage its settings and adjust them to your needs.
Method Settings
Method Title
– define the USPS shipping method title which should be used in the cart/checkout when the Fallback option was triggered.
Fallback
– enable to offer a flat rate cost for shipping so that the user can still checkout, if the API, for some reason, returns no matching rates. If selected, the additional Fallback Cost field will appear below:
Free Shipping
– tick the Enable the free shipping over amount checkbox in order to offer your customers the free shipping once the defined order total value threshold is reached. If selected, the additional Free Shipping Threshold field will appear below:
Services (checkbox)
– This checkbox is visible only when Web Tools API is selected as API Type in plugin settings. Tick this checkbox to manage which USPS services should be available for your customers to choose from. You may also change their names here and set the order of how they are displayed in the cart and checkout.
If the checkbox is not selected all the services will be available by default.
Please mind that the Services Table may be divided into two sections – Domestic Services Table and International Services Table depending on the way how the shipping zone was configured.
Services
This section is visible only when REST API is selected as API Type in plugin settings.
When using REST API, each service has a unique identifier (SKU). There are thousands of available SKUs – you can limit the number of services displayed in your checkout by selecting specific values for Type, Sub type, Shape and Delivery type fields. For a detailed information on SKUs please see the USPS User SKU Guide.
Package Settings
This section is visible only when REST API is selected as API Type in plugin settings.
Fill in length, width, height and default weight. Those values will be used for shipping cost calculation. Please note, that default weight will only be used if products in cart don’t have defined weight.
Rates Adjustments
Commercial Rates
– tick this checkbox if you want to use and display the Commercial Pricing shipping rates to your customers instead of the standard ones.
Value of contents
The Value of contents is crucial, when the package is carried abroad with the service of Envelope size. For this type of packages, the value needs to be set to 0. The screenshot can be seen below:
Insurance
– tick it if you want the insurance to be included in the USPS rates. The insurance will be included only for services which it is available for.
PRO Handling Fees
– use this option if you want to charge your customers with the handling fees automatically added to the USPS rates:
You can choose if the handling fee should have the Fixed or the Percentage value. Once one of these options is selected the additional Fee Amount field will appear below.
Please mind that you can also use the Handling Fees option to offer your customers the discounted USPS live rates by entering the negative value, e.g. -10 in the Fee Amount field.
Parcel Packing Method
– define the way how the products should be packed:
- Pack into one box by weight – a default live rates calculation method. Weight of all the ordered products is summed up and they are considered as shipped together in the one package.
- Pack items separately – each product is considered as if it was shipped in a separate box. If selected the plugin uses the products’ weight and dimensions to calculate their volume and return the shipping rates.
PROPack into custom boxes – this option gives you a choice which packages to use. You can choose from the standard USPS packaging or precisely define your own custom boxes:
It allows not only to set the box dimensions (Length x Width x Height) and maximum weight but also the packaging’s (e.g. cardbox’) weight and padding which will be substracted from the package max weight and dimensions. The ordered products will be automatically matched to the defined boxes to offer their most optimal setup. If any product exceeds the defined maximum package size the plugin will return the fallback if set.
Some USPS services might have a maximum size and weight limit for the shipped packages. You can find more information about the USPS Weight & Dimensions restrictions here.
Origin Settings for this Shipping Method
The USPS plugin uses the shop’s origin entered in the WooCommerce settings WooCommerce → Settings → General → Store Address by default. However, you can define a different shipper’s address for each Shipping Method – resulting in multiple custom origins.
For example, if you have one warehouses for each shipping region, you can assign the Custom Origin using the fields below:
Please remember that you can also assign the Custom Origin on the USPS configuration screen. When using this feature the following priority order is used:
- Custom Origin for this Shipping Method.
- Custom Origin in the USPS configuration screen.
- Default WooCommerce Store Address.