You can request a Delivery Confirmation Tracking number from the United States Postal Service and print a bar-coded label. The system is not designed for dealing with postage; it assumes that you use a postage meter or take your packages to a Post Office.
To use this feature, you must first sign up with the USPS for electronic Delivery Confirmation Service.
Go to www.usps.com.
Click the All Products & Services button.
Select Web Tools from the alphabetical list.
In the Access USPS Web Tools box, click Sign Up.
Fill out the form and click Submit.
When you receive the email from USPS with your user name, password, and instructions, call USPS at 800-344-7779 and select Option 3.
Tell the USPS representative that you’re using the StoneEdge Order Manager, a third-party shopping cart software, and request account activation.
When your USPS account is set up, enter your user name, password and server URL in the system parameters:
Go to the Main Menu>Maintenance Menu>Maintenance tab>Set System Parameters button.
Select the USPS parameter group.
Set the appropriate parameters based on the table below. Click Save after you enter each parameter value.
|
Parameter |
What to enter |
|
USPSUserID |
Your USPS user name. |
|
USPSPassword |
Your USPS password. |
|
USPSServerURL |
The URL to the USPS server. The URL will probably be: Production.ShippingAPIs.com |
|
USPSTestMode |
Set to True to run the system in test mode (receive tracking numbers that do not get entered into the USPS system) or False to run "live". |
|
USPSFromEmail |
If you want the USPS to send confirmation emails to your customers, enter the email address to be used as the return address for those messages. |
|
USPSFromName |
The name that email confirmation messages sent by the USPS should show as the "From" name. |
|
USPSFromZip |
The 5-digit Zipcode from which your packages will usually be shipped. |
|
USPSLabelTemplate |
The type of delivery confirmation labels that you want the Order Manager to print: "Barcode Only" or "Barcode and Address". |
The Order Manager can print two styles of Delivery Confirmation labels:
Barcode Only labels are designed to print on a 4" X 3" label, 6 to a page (such as Avery 5384).
Example:
Electronic Confirmations for the Barcode labels (Optional) can be printed at 2 per 8½" X 11" page (1/2 page each).
Example:
Barcode and address labels print on a single 8½" X 11" (The Shipping label prints on one half of the page, an electronic confirmation label on the other half).
Example:
Go to the Main Menu>View Orders. Navigate to a record for which you need to import a tracking number.
Click the Shipping and Tracking tab.
Click Get USPS #. The USPS Tracking Numbers dialog box opens:
Select the options for the shipment:
Options
· Use the Calendar to set a "post date" for the mailing label if the package will be mailed later than today’s date. You can only post 4 days in advance. If you select a date other than today’s date the Post Date Confirmation Label option will be selected automatically.
· Pick the Service Type desired from the Service Type drop-down list (if the ship method specified in the order matches a service type on the list it will automatically be selected).
· If you will be mailing the package from a Zip Code other than the default specified in the USPSFromZip parameter, check the Mail From Separate Zip Code option then enter the 5-digit Zip in the Alternate Zip field.
· If you are using the Barcode Only label format, the Print Electronic Confirmation option will be active. Check this option if you want the Order Manager to print the confirmation form after the barcode labels print. If you use the Barcode and Address format, this option will be selected and cannot be turned off.
Click Print Now*, Print Later** or Get Number Only to send your request to the USPS. You see a confirmation message box when the Order Manager receives the tracking number:
Click OK to add the tracking number to the order.
· *Print Now: The Print Now button allows you to immediately print out the tracking number received from USPS. Use this option if you are only processing a single package. If you use the Barcode Only report, the label will be printed on the top right label on the page. You will not have the ability to designate which label the system prints.
· **Print Later: If you are processing a large number of orders or are using the Barcode Only report and want to use all of the labels on each page, use the Print Later option. This sends the print request to the batch queue so you can print it later. Note: The batch queue is local to each PC.
When you are ready to print, click the Batch Printing button on the Main Menu. If you use the Barcode Only report, the Print Electronic Confirmations option is active. If you use the Barcode and Address label, this option is enabled by default and cannot be changed.
· If you want to print labels for a specific shipping method such as "Priority Mail", select the shipping method from the Selected Shipping Method list box.
· To print labels for all shipping methods, click the All Shipping Methods checkbox.
· Select the printer options you want to use for this print job then click the U.S.P.S. Labels button to begin printing.
· If you need to re-print any label, go to View Orders>Shipping and Tracking tab. Click Print USPS Label to immediately print the barcode label for the current order. (This option does not send the request to your batch queue.)