Estimate/Shipping for USPS regional flat rate box options no longer works/fails

I am having some similar issues after the recent upgrade. Still trying to track down the direct issue, but regardless of volume/size/count Regional A1 and B1 are not being selected.

Last order in system with accurate USPS regional shipping info was dated 9/3/2020.

As in previous message, don’t believe it is related to “plugin upgrade”. Please clarify.

I contacted USPS and they are requesting additional info. I would be happy to respond/forward to USPS (if anyone can provide it).

… To better assist you, please identify the API you were trying to call and provide the XML request you had initiated.

I hope a developer/contributor familiar with “woocomerce services” can take this up urgently. Cost Impact is severe! (to businesses and their customers).

Regards,
Brandon

@slowbrandon it may not be related to the upgrade of woo services plugin, but I made the upgrade and then the issue started to show.

I haven’t been able to fully dig down into the issue at the moment and find a “root” cause and my issue may be tangentially related at this point wasn’t ready to open a different issue without further details.

USPS has confirmed their (regional rate) apiis working.

So the problem resolution (appears to be) a “tangent” outside of woocommerce services plugin or USPS api service? possibly another “woocommerce” component/service handling the actual communication with USPS somewhere?

This is rather unfortunate and disappointing situation* as plugin users have no control over (not to mention a bad practice) what I consider “mission critical” functionality in this “undocumented” component.

@elmills81 Thank you for your assistance!

Regards,
Brandon

I spent almost 4 hours troubleshooting via chat on Friday with WordPress Support on this issue. I have move than Regional A1/B1 boxes in my offerings.

I was able to replicate the issue if the solver finds the best solution is a non regional packages it works, but if a regional box it goes to the fallback rate. It seems like some part of the live rate calc is failing for Regional.

If I get a support solution I will comment/update here as well.

This github issue was recently opened by Automatic staff in response to my support case https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/issues/2184

Thank you for liking to the GitHub issue, @elmills81

@slowbrandon Since it is a public repo, I’m suggesting you subscribe to this thread there to follow the interaction.

That’ll allow you to be the first to get any updates from the devs and find out when this is closed and solved. You can subscribe by clicking this button on the GitHub repo (this will only be visible if you have a GitHub account, which can be done for free):

Link to image: https://d.pr/i/2EmX9K

I’ll mark this topic as solved for now. Please feel free to open a new topic if you have any other questions.

Thank you all for the support/assistance!

After searching the forums for a forum participant who maybe able to help, perhaps @shaunkuschel can provide some insight into a resolution or guidance for woocommerce tax and shipping service.

To re-iterate the location of the issue is NOT (by my understanding) with the woocommerce-services plugin itself but in a woocommerce tax and shipping service/api it is using to obtain the usps estimate/data.

Regards,
Brandon

Hello @slowbrandon

I did miss updating the reports with a link to this forum topic. I’ve updated it now.

location of the issue is NOT (by my understanding) with the woocommerce-services plugin itself but in a woocommerce tax and shipping service/api

You’re right in that the issue is with the API used. That said, there’s no separate location for that, and the current report we have is in the right place for developers to further investigate.

Would you mind sharing more details as to where you’re expecting the report to be posted?

Hi Aashik (@aashik),

Thank you for your response.

I think a way to address “dependent service issues” would be helpful? That is, a process that ensured the appropriate component and responsible party was aware of the problem. In this case, woocommerce shipping/tax api service and Automatic?

Also, forgive my ignorance of process/understanding, perhaps appropriate folks are working on the issue and this is being tracked elsewhere?

I am uncomfortable with the idea of marking issues as resolved without clarity to “folks” using the plugin that the issue is “still experienced”. It is a bit misleading. Perhaps at minimum another status… “in progress – dependent service provider contacted”?

Also, if you don’t mind… what is your relationship to service provider? I am still wondering if the “responsible party” is aware/working on it?

Regards,
Brandon

Hi @slowbrandon ,

I think a way to address “dependent service issues” would be helpful? That is, a process that ensured the appropriate component and responsible party was aware of the problem. In this case, woocommerce shipping/tax api service and Automatic?

WooCommerce Shipping & Tax is developed by Automattic, as you can see on the plugin page. So, the responsible party is aware ??

> Also, forgive my ignorance of process/understanding, perhaps appropriate folks are working on the issue and this is being tracked elsewhere?

Yes, that’s correct. Bugs are tracked in the open-source GitHub repository, and you can monitor that at the link @elmills81 provided.

> I am uncomfortable with the idea of marking issues as resolved without clarity to “folks” using the plugin that the issue is “still experienced”. It is a bit misleading. Perhaps at minimum another status… “in progress – dependent service provider contacted”?

This does sound like a good idea, but we’re restricted to the Resolved/Unresolved statuses that are available on the www.remarpro.com forums. The information about the forums and getting support for them as a whole is available here.

> Also, if you don’t mind… what is your relationship to service provider? I am still wondering if the “responsible party” is aware/working on it?

Everyone you see with the Plugin Support role is an authorized support representative for WooCommerce, and we have access to the internal support channels and developers to handle these requests.

I hope this helps clarify what’s happening with this bug. Rest assured it’s in the hands of the people who have the power to fix it, and that issue that we linked to will give you the latest status.

Thank you @mikestraw.

I appreciate the update and enlightening me as to the issue resolution process. I am happy to hear the issue isn’t being missed.

***

I’ll keep the info you have presented in mind with researching issues. That is, one may have to look deeper than the forum thread status to understand the “true state” of a particular issue.

Thanks again!

Regards,
Brandon