NAME

Business::Shipping - Rates and tracking for UPS and USPS

VERSION

Version 3.1.0

SYNOPSIS

Rate request example

 use Business::Shipping;
 
 my $rate_request = Business::Shipping->rate_request(
     shipper   => 'UPS_Offline',
     service   => 'Ground Residential',
     from_zip  => '98683',
     to_zip    => '98270',
     weight    =>  5.00,
 );    
 
 $rate_request->execute() or die $rate_request->user_error();
 
 print $rate_request->rate();

FEATURES

Business::Shipping currently supports three shippers:

UPS_Offline: United Parcel Service

• Shipment rate estimation using offline tables.

  As of January, 2007, UPS has only released the data tables in binary Excel format. These have not been converted to the text files necessary for use in this module. A script is distributed with the module for automatically updating the fuel surcharge every month.

UPS_Online: United Parcel Service using UPS OnLine Tools

• Shipment rate estimation

• Shipment tracking.

• Rate Shopping.

  Gets rates for all the services in one request:

   my $rr_shop = Business::Shipping->rate_request( 
       service      => 'shop',    
       shipper      => 'UPS_Online',
       from_zip     => '98682',
       to_zip       => '98270',
       weight       => 5.00,
       user_id      => '',
       password     => '',
       access_key   => '',
   );
   
   $rr_shop->execute() or die $rr_shop->user_error();
   
   foreach my $shipper ( @$results ) {
       print "Shipper: $shipper->{name}\n\n";
       foreach my $rate ( @{ $shipper->{ rates } } ) {
           print "  Service:  $rate->{name}\n";
           print "  Charges:  $rate->{charges_formatted}\n";
           print "  Delivery: $rate->{deliv_date_formatted}\n" 
               if $rate->{ deliv_date_formatted };
           print "\n";
       }
   }

• C.O.D. (Cash On Delivery)

  Add these options to your rate request for C.O.D.:

  cod: enable C.O.D.

  cod_funds_code: The code that indicates the type of funds that will be used for the COD payment. Required if CODCode is 1, 2, or 3. Valid Values: 0 = All Funds Allowed. 8 = cashier's check or money order, no cash allowed.

  cod_value: The COD value for the package. Required if COD option is present. Valid values: 0.01 - 50000.00

  cod_code: The code associated with the type of COD. Values: 1 = Regular COD, 2 = Express COD, 3 = Tagless COD

  For example:

          cod            => 1,
          cod_value      => 400.00,
          cod_funds_code => 0,

USPS_Online: United States Postal Service

• Shipment rate estimation using USPS Online WebTools.

• Shipment tracking

INSTALLATION

 perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::Business::Shipping'

See INSTALL.

REQUIRED MODULES

 Any::Moose (any)
 Config::IniFiles (any)
 Log::Log4perl (any)

See INSTALL.

OPTIONAL MODULES

For UPS offline rate estimation:

 Business::Shipping::DataFiles (any)

The following modules are used by online rate estimation and tracking. See INSTALL.

 CHI (0.39)
 Crypt::SSLeay (any)
 LWP::UserAgent (any)
 XML::DOM (any)
 XML::Simple (2.05)

GETTING STARTED

Be careful to read, understand, and comply with the terms of use for the shipping service that you will use.

UPS_Offline: For United Parcel Service (UPS) offline rate requests

No signup required. Business::Shipping::DataFiles has all of rate tables, which are usually updated only once per year.

We recommend that you run the following script to update your fuel surcharge every first monday of the month.

 bin/Business-Shipping-UPS_Offline-update-fuel-surcharge.pl

UPS_Online: For United Parcel Service (UPS) Online XML: Free signup

• Read the legal terms and conditions: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/service/terms/index.html

• https://www.ups.com/one-to-one/register

• After receiving a User Id and Password from UPS, login, then select "Get Access Key", then "Get XML Access Key".

• Read more about UPS Online Tools: http://www.ups.com/e_comm_access/toolintro

USPS_Online: For United States Postal Service (USPS): Free signup

• https://secure.shippingapis.com/Registration/

• (More info at http://www.usps.com/webtools/)

• The online signup will result in a testing-only account (only a small sample of queries will work).

• To activate the "production" use of your USPS account, you must follow the USPS documentation. As of Sept 16 2004, that means contacting the USPS Internet Customer Care Center by e-mail (icustomercare@usps.com) or phone: 1-800-344-7779.

ERROR/DEBUG HANDLING

Log4perl is used for logging error, debug, etc. messages. For simple manipulation of the current log level, use the Business::Shipping->log_level() class method (below). For more advanced logging/debugging options, see config/log4perl.conf.

Preloading Modules

To preload all modules, call Business::Shipping with this syntax:

 use Business::Shipping { preload => 'All' };

To preload the modules for just one shipper:

 use Business::Shipping { preload => 'USPS_Online' };
 

Without preloading, some modules will be loaded at runtime. Normally, runtime loading is the best mode of operation. However, there are some circumstances when preloading is advantagous. For example:

• For mod_perl, to load the modules only once at startup to reduce memory utilization.

• For compatibilty with some security modules (e.g. Safe).

• To move the delay that would normally occur with the first request into startup time. That way, it takes longer to start up, but the first user will not experience any delay.

METHODS

$obj->init()

Generic attribute setter.

$obj->user_error()

Log and store errors that should be visibile to the user.

$obj->validate()

Confirms that the object is valid. Checks that required attributes are set.

$self->get_grouped_attrs( $attribute_name )

$obj->rate_request()

This method is used to request shipping rate information from online providers or offline tables. A hash is accepted as input. The acceptable values are determined by the shipper class, but the following are common to all:

• shipper

  The name of the shipper to use. Must correspond to a module by the name of: Business::Shipping::SHIPPER. For example, UPS_Online.

• service

  A valid service name for the provider. See the corresponding module documentation for a list of services compatible with the shipper.

• from_zip

  The origin zipcode.

• from_state

  The origin state in two-letter code format or full-name format. Required for UPS_Offline.

• to_zip

  The destination zipcode.

• to_country

  The destination country. Required for international shipments only.

• weight

  Weight of the shipment, in pounds, as a decimal number.

There are some additional common values:

• user_id

  A user_id, if required by the provider. USPS_Online and UPS_Online require this, while UPS_Offline does not.

• password

  A password, if required by the provider. USPS_Online and UPS_Online require this, while UPS_Offline does not.

Business::Shipping->log_level()

Simple alternative to editing the config/log4perl.conf file. Sets the log level for all Business::Shipping objects.

Takes a scalar that can be 'trace', 'debug', 'info', 'warn', 'error', or 'fatal'.

SEE ALSO

Important modules that are related to Business::Shipping:

• Business::Shipping::DataFiles - Required for offline cost estimation

• Business::Shipping::DataTools - Tools that generate DataFiles (optional)

Other Perl modules that are similar to Business::Shipping:

• Business::UPS::Tracking - Online shipment tracking.

• WebService::UPS - Online shipment tracking

• Business::Shipping::UPS_XML - Online cost estimation module that has very few prerequisites. Supports shipments that originate in USA and Canada.

• Business::UPS - Online cost estimation module that uses the UPS web form instead of the UPS Online Tools. For shipments that originate in the USA only.

• Net::UPS - Implementation of UPS Online Tools API in Perl

Use of this software

Please let the author know how you are using Business::Shipping.

• Advanced support and integration services are available from the author.

• Interchange e-commerce system ( http://www.icdevgroup.org ). See UserTag/business-shipping.tag.

• Many E-Commerce websites, such as Phatmotorsports.com.

• PaymentOnline.com software.

• The "Shopping Cart" Wobject for the WebGUI project, by Andy Grundman http://www.plainblack.com/shopping_cart_wobject

• Mentioned in YAPC 2004: "Writing web applications with perl ..."

WEBSITE

Source code repository: https://github.com/danielbr/Business--Shipping

CPAN web site: http://search.cpan.org/~dbrowning/Business-Shipping/

Backpan (old releases): http://backpan.cpan.org/authors/id/D/DB/DBROWNING/

Author homepage: http://www.kavod.com/Business-Shipping/

SUPPORT

This module is supported by the author. Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-business-shipping@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org. The author will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as the author makes changes.

CREDITS

Many people have contributed to this software, please see the CREDITS file.

AUTHOR

Daniel Browning, db@kavod.com, http://www.kavod.com/

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright 2003-2011 Daniel Browning <db@kavod.com>. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See LICENSE for more info.

cpanm Business::Shipping

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Business::Shipping