USPS calculator down Today?

[Logcbnfvr]

Good morning!

Anyone else having issues with the USPS shipping calculator being down this morning? Sure puts business to a grinding halt :-)

Kim

[chrisytsma]

Yep, same here...

 

Warning: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: unable to connect to production.shippingapis.com:80 in /hsphere/local/home/xxxxxx/mysite.com/catalog/includes/classes/http_client.php on line 330

 

Sucks...

[Speedie]

Yes, same problem here. Apache reports the following:

 

[error] PHP Warning: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to Production.ShippingAPIs.com:80 in /home/storename/public_html/store/catalog/includes/classes/http_client.php on line 330

 

So it appears their server is non-responsive.

[ozEworks]

Yes it's down on all our sites across several servers.

 

Christmas load?

[webapps]

Yes, same problem here. Apache reports the following:

 

[error] PHP Warning: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to Production.ShippingAPIs.com:80 in /home/storename/public_html/store/catalog/includes/classes/http_client.php on line 330

 

So it appears their server is non-responsive.

Add a connection timeout to the http_client.php under the GET function

// add to class vars timeout in seconds
var $connect_timeout = 60;
// add the connection timeout under the GET function
if (!$this->socket = fsockopen($host, $port, $this->reply, $this->replyString,$this->connect_timeout)) {
return false;
}

this way at least your page load will not fail

[THOUGHTOUT]

Down here too!

[♥zelf]

I called USPS Web tools support and there message states they are trying to resolve the problem. I think that is 3 or 4 times this year USPS has gone down, compared to FedEx going down 0 times.

[THOUGHTOUT]

It worked for a brief moment a few minutes ago, let us hope they are close to resolving it (!)

[♥zelf]

This attribute needs to be added at the top of the class

// add to class vars timeout in seconds
var $connect_timeout = 60;

Should look like:

	var $url; // array containg server URL, similar to parseurl() returned array
var $reply; // response code
var $replyString; // full response
var $protocolVersion = '1.1';
var $requestHeaders, $requestBody;
var $socket = false;
// proxy stuff
var $useProxy = false;
var $proxyHost, $proxyPort;
var $connect_timeout = 60;

 

// add the connection timeout under the GET function
if (!$this->socket = fsockopen($host, $port, $this->reply, $this->replyString,$this->connect_timeout)) {
return false;
}

 

The next step on this thread is to add some code that auto switches to flat rates for first class, priority, and express, etc. in the event that USPS is down yet again.

[webapps]

This attribute needs to be added at the top of the class

// add to class vars timeout in seconds
var $connect_timeout = 60;

Yes, thats why I said add it to the class vars

[♥zelf]

Yes, thats why I said add it to the class vars

In the event some osc users are not familiar with class structures e.g. where the class vars are located I put an example. Appreciate your post.

[webapps]

In the event some osc users are not familiar with class structures e.g. where the class vars are located I put an example. Appreciate your post.

I understand

 

A note the timeout should be set accounding to your servers timeout, some servers allow longer timeouts than others

[Nikuman]

It's kinda up, then it's down, then it times out. :angry:

 

This timing is about as bad as it could be for us.

[nerdDesign]

Typical :-(

 

This is where I found out though geesh.

[iofast]

Down for us as well. We took a look and were thinking about using fixed rates based on the USPS downloadable rates here:

http://www.usps.com/prices/downloadable-pricing-files.htm

 

However, we need international handling and to build a whole module would probably be 80 man hours or more with all the complexity we would need to build in. Has anyone looked at doing a USPS downloadable rate chart based module?

[Logcbnfvr]

Down for us as well. We took a look and were thinking about using fixed rates based on the USPS downloadable rates here:

http://www.usps.com/prices/downloadable-pricing-files.htm

 

However, we need international handling and to build a whole module would probably be 80 man hours or more with all the complexity we would need to build in. Has anyone looked at doing a USPS downloadable rate chart based module?

Yeah... the calculator is still going in and out. I turned on a temporay table rate for Priority Mail only, kinda thing just to get by... just loosing too many orders and getting alot of calls!

[js28784]

This is KILLING us. Phones ringing off the hook with a huge backlog of orders we can't input. Has anyone received an update?

[Mike T]

Brutal Timing. We've switched to a flat rate & disabled USPS for the time being - offering to refund the difference for domestic orders.

 

Can someone please post when it is back & functioning properly???

 

THANKS!!

[Nikuman]

Yeah, this rots.

 

Someone should lose their job at the USPS over this. Can you imagine how many sales world wide this is trashing?!

 

 

We turned on flat rate also, but still have the USPS running and timing out. Not the best solution, but a band-aid. What are you guys doing?

[THOUGHTOUT]

We've optioned to go to FLAT RATE describing it this way:

 

LIMITED TIME Best Way Shipping, PRIORITY USA and FIRST CLASS MAIL INTERNATIONAL $8.00

 

And turned off "United States Postal Service" API for now

[Jayman11]

Are we sure this is just a temp issue right now? I remember getting a letter recently from USPS that there were going to be changes this month. Could these be the change and now the module needs to be tweaked?

[Nikuman]

Is everyone using the latest version? http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,487

 

Also, it says:

You must email USPS and ask them to switch your account to the production server and tell them you are using OSCommerce.

 

How are you getting in touch with USPS? Is there a phone number? What is the email address? I want this FIXED!

[Jayman11]

I jsut called 1-800-ASK-USPS and the guy told me they are having problems with calculations on Click-N-Ship right now so I guess it all uses the same deal to calculate. Problem with one thing is a problem with the rest?

[DKarr]

I just called my Postmaster: she said that ALL of the post office system is down. They can't do any work either!

 

And, that she would call me when they get it back up.....

 

Time to dust off those Flat Rate Shipping Modules!

 

 

Deb

[chokoret]

for me this message is keep showing :

United States Postal Service

An error occured with the USPS shipping calculations.

If you prefer to use USPS as your shipping method, please contact the store owner.

 

Customers are keep complaining :(