Fedex shown as shipping option with a PO box

-- url of the page with the problem -- : www.bestpub.com/
-- HikaShop version -- : 2.5.0
-- Joomla version -- : 2.5.28
-- PHP version -- : 5.3.28

I have an issue where Fedex is shown as a shipping option when the address is a PO box. It should not be doing that.

How can I limit the Fedex shipping quotes to only show when the address is not a PO box?

Hi,

How do you know that an address is a PO box ?

Regards,

The address line, instead of a street address, will have something like "PO Box 411". It could be "P.O. Box 411", and very rarely "Post Office Box 411". Of course the number is different each time.

These addresses get delivered to a box at the local post office. Because of that Fedex can't deliver to them.

What would be really handy is the ability to not show FedEx shipping for PO Box addresses, since it should not anyway, and to be able to show USPS for only PO Box addresses. That way I could have two shipping methods (Fedex and USPS) setup, and Fedex will be the shipping method for all addresses except PO Boxes, and USPS will be the only shipping method for PO Boxes.

Does that make since?

Hello,

What would be really handy is the ability to not show FedEx shipping for PO Box addresses, since it should not anyway, and to be able to show USPS for only PO Box addresses. That way I could have two shipping methods (Fedex and USPS) setup, and Fedex will be the shipping method for all addresses except PO Boxes, and USPS will be the only shipping method for PO Boxes.

There is no option to do that, the only solution will be to directly edit the code of the FedEx shipping plugin which will require some development skills.

I completely understand that there is no option for this at the moment. I was just telling you folks what would be ideal, and how this should function here in the United States.

What I am reporting here is that there is an issue with the Fedex shipping plugin. It should not return shipping rates for PO box addresses. It is wrong that is is doing that as Fedex can't deliver to PO box addresses.

So please understand that this is a bug and needs to be addressed to make the Fedex shipping plugin work properly.

Please let me know if you folks are going to address this, or if I need to look elsewhere.

Thank you.

Hi,

HikaShop sends the address and the packages size/weight to FedEx and FedEx either returns an error that the goods can't be shipped or returns the shipping rates available for that location.
So if FedEx returns the shipping rates for a location, it should mean that FedEx can ship to that location.
You say that FedEx can't deliver to PO box addresses, but that's not what I've heard.
Here is for example:
www.fedex.com/us/fedex/shippingservices/package/services.html
FedEx themselves claim that they ship to PO Box addresses with SmartPost, which is a service listed in the FedEx shipping plugin, so it's only normal that the plugin lists shipping rates returned by FedEx, even for PO boxes.

If FedEx is returning shipping rates for PO boxes for shipping services with combinations that do not exists in the real life, the problem is with FedEx and I would recommend to contact their technical support so that they can sort that out.

Now regarding the possibility to filter PO box addresses at the shipping method level, it's not impossible but I don't really like the idea because there is no way to accurately process addresses. Some persons will write PO, some others po, some others P.o some others Post Office, some others will make a typo and write Psot Office, etc, etc. There are so many cases to take into account, and that's only for English. It's not possible to develop something accurate to do that parsing of the address in all the cases.
Sure, it could be made as a custom development by customizing the FedEx plugin, but with the information we have so far, I don't see a reason to address that.

So what you are saying is that you give Fedex the information they way, and if they return wrong information then it is a problem with Fedex, not you folks. Is that right?

Regardless everyone needs to know that the Fedex shipping plugin IS NOT RELIABLE.

I have attached a screen capture of a test I just did with it. I used a PO Box, and got shipping rates for Fedex Ground, Fedex 2 Day, Fedex Express Saver Time Pickup, and Fedex Ground (Home Delivery), which are all shipping methods that do not deliver to PO Box addresses. Also, you can see I get an error that reads "The FedEx request failed with the message : Customer not eligible for service." That is from turning on FedEx Smart Post.

People need to know that this plugin is not returning valid shipping results at all.

Hello,

"The FedEx request failed with the message : Customer not eligible for service." That is from turning on FedEx Smart Post.

That error message is only telling your that your FedEx account is not enabled for SmartPost services. To get your account enabled for SmartPost, contact your FedEx Account Manager.

People need to know that this plugin is not returning valid shipping results at all.

Here is a step by step of how shipping plugin works, when you'll reach the "Shipping" step of your checkout workflow :
- The plugin will gather information regarding your order like the shipping address / products weight & dimensions

Before the "Shipping" step of your checkout workflow is displayed :
- The plugin will send the gathered order information to the FedEx platform
- The FedEx platform will then answer by sending you the available services and rates.
- The plugin will then display each rates returned by FedEx through the "Shipping" step of your checkout workflow

The Hikashop FedEx shipping plugin is only displaying the rates and information returned by the FedEx platform based on the order information that we sent them.

Also, using that kind of code through the "fedex.php" file of the plugin : just after the line :
Will probably do the job, that code will enable you to display an error message and don't display FedEx shipping services if your have "PO" on your customer shipping address.