USPS Module over charging for first class?

As above I have activated the module on my friends website and USPS successfully gets shipping quotes however... Say you buy a sticker off his site that is 1oz? it charges like $6 apparently for first class mail he said that if he goes directly to USPS he only gets charged about $2 or so dollars.. So he always has to refund the difference? Any ideas why USPS module is over charging for First Class mail?

Cheers

Nick

It may be analogous to what happens with Priority when ounces and pounds aren't kept straight. Priority ounces cost sixteen FOLD more than they should stated as pounds. There are more levels in first class, so the effect could be blurred a bit. He does not need to refund anything if he charges a flat rate to cover all variants nation wide (lose some, win some, break even or slightly better overall), and retains decision over the carrier.

Thanks for the reply buddy,

My friend said this

I don't think that's it.
It's not even giving the option of first class. It's only giving priority mail. It's charging the correct amount for priority mail. To mail one ounce (a sticker) costs 49 cents, and it's charging people $6+
I'm OK with charging $1 to cover the envelope, a couple minutes of time, etc. But when it charges people more than 6 times the actual shipping cost it's not good and does not sit well with people.

Any clue as to why first class wouldn't appear for shipping then?

Okay, that adds to the mix: "It's not even giving the option of first class. It's only giving priority mail." I gather that it declines to enumerate what it reckoned was being done by usps for $6 -- you would otherwise already have given that.

I doubt that usps has any support even for what usps itself could be screwing up. In the module settings see what might have been missed.

A way out is "flat rate shipping" instead, for a fixed $1 (or whatever) for envelope, stamp, parking meter, etc.. A note can say it is flat rate and will go via usps, but if the customers have one option at nominal cost, then they will not be asking details.

Sorry for the VERY late reply, I may just do a weight based shipping module instead of direct to USPS to save time.

So up to 1 pound is X amount

2 - 10 pounds is X amount

You might try taking into USPS over the counter a few typical packages, ounces, several more ounces, pound, two pounds, and see how the charges fall out for first class and priorty, at three distances, nearby, halfway across the country, and if you're not in the middle all the way across, then settle upon one to four weight classes, and settle for taking packages into USPS or having the mailman pick them up. A normal letter of up to four pages plus envelope can go for one stamp first class. A threshold priority envelope holding a fair bit of weight can go for the base rate. You may find that between first class and priority, priority will do it. If that one module fails, then you can run it pro forma flat rate till a successor module works. Postal customer convenience (yours) won't be a high priority at USPS but you can probably have in one trip all of the answers you need if you're organized and lucky..