In this article, we will go over the features of ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version) and what makes it the best free WooCommerce USPS Shipping plugin.

Introduction:

Shipping and order fulfillment is one aspect that WooCommerce store owners struggle with regularly. Packaging the products, buying postage and dropping the parcel off at the Post Office to fulfill orders from a WooCommerce store that ships often, just isn’t possible manually.

Integrating WooCommerce USPS Shipping helps you do exactly this. USPS is an international shipping carrier that provides shipping solutions and expertise capable of handling the shipping requirements of WooCommerce businesses of all scales.

Furthermore, USPS Priority Mail service is of particular importance to WooCommerce store owners. Priority Mail is a flat rate shipping service which can be availed to send anything that fits in one of the many boxes or envelopes. You can ship anything that weighs up to 70 lbs as long it fits in one of the packaging offerings. Additionally, Priority Mail is for both domestic and international shipments and the boxes, envelopes are free. Additionally, they can pick up from you or your business, no matter how many pieces. No hidden fees, you pay nothing for insurance up to a value of $100. Plus it has guaranteed delivery, whether you choose 1-day, 2-day or 3-day delivery. These reasons make USPS the shipping carrier of choice for integration into WooCommerce. 

ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version):

The best free WooCommerce USPS Shipping plugin is ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version)

This free plugin can help you integrate USPS Shipping services and products into WooCommerce. You can display Live Shipping Rates from USPS, customize service names, configure fallback rates, enable only the cheapest rates to be enabled, enable Click-N-Ship rates and restrict products that qualify for USPS Media Mail. Here are some more details about features that the plugin has that can improve your WooCommerce shipping capabilities drastically:

1. Displaying Live USPS Shipping Rates to Customers:

Using the plugin you can choose to enable or disable real-time rates from USPS for both international and domestic shipping services. You can find the Realtime Rates check box under the General Tab of the plugin settings. 

When a customer visiting your WooCommerce store adds items to their cart, in the shipping section, the plugin will display the real-time shipping rates for the WooCommerce USPS Shipping options you have enabled. This lets customers pick and choose the shipping option based on how much it costs.

2. Providing Custom Names for USPS Services:

You can also use the Method Title field to give a custom name for all the WooCommerce USPS Services that you have enabled. This can be helpful to your customers as providing descriptive names like “3-Day Guaranteed Delivery” instead of Priority Mail would help them make informed decisions about the shipping service that they want. 

3. Offering WooCommerce USPS Shipping services based on Destination Country:

Using the plugin you can also choose the countries for which you wish to make enabled USPS Shipping options, available to. In the Rates & Services tab, using the Method Available to field you can pick one or more countries that you wish to offer WooCommerce USPS Shipping for. Setting the Method Available to field to Specific Countries will prompt you to select the countries from a drop-down list. You can pick one or more countries for this purpose. When a customer is from a country that isn’t in the Specific Countries list, adding products to their cart will not show USPS Shipping options to them. 

4. Configuring Fallback Rates:

You can also setup up a Fallback rate that is charged for shipping should USPS fail to return live real-time shipping rates. This ensures that your customers are shown a Shipping rate for the WooCommerce USPS Shipping method even when there are technical difficulties with USPS. Furthermore, customers can still place their orders on your WooCommerce store in these situations.

5. Choosing between displaying the Cheapest Rates and all Returned Rates:

The plugin even lets you choose the rates you offer to your customers. Using the Cheapest Rate dropdown you can choose to enable the cheapest USPS shipping rate to be displayed to your customers. Disabling it will show all the returned USPS shipping rates to your customers when they add items to their cart.

6. Choosing between Click-N-Ship and Offline Rates:

Additionally, the plugin lets you set the WooCommerce USPS shipping rates to use Click-N-Ship or Offline rates as well. Click-N-Ship is a service offered by USPS that lets you print shipping documents and postage on ordinary paper. The rates here are cheaper as USPS rewards the efficiency in shipping from homes, such as address verification and automatic tracking on shipping labels. These rate discounts are not available at the post office. The OFFLINE rates are rates that USPS charges at the Post Office.

7. Enabling various USPS shipping options for WooCommerce:

The ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version) lets you pick which shipping options you want to be enabled for your WooCommerce store. In the Rates & Services tab of the plugin, you can find all of the USPS services that can be enabled or disabled.

The plugin lets you choose from major USPS international and domestic shipping options. This includes all the variants of the major options.

USPS Domestic Shipping options:

• First Class Mail.
• Priority Mail.
• Priority Mail Express
• Media Mail
• Library Mail

USPS International Shipping options:

• First Class Package International Service
• Priority Mail International
• Priority Mail Express International
• Global Express Guaranteed
• International Postcards

8. Restricting USPS Media Mail by Product Class:

Media Mail is one of the most cost-effective ways to ship media content and materials through the U.S. Postal Service. You can send books, videotapes, DVDs, CDs, printed music and other sound recordings through Media Mail as long as they weigh less than 70 pounds. While not costing as much, deliveries of Media Mails are usually slower. USPS states that your item will arrive in an estimated 2 to 10 days time when shipped with Media Mail. 

The ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version) lets you restrict items that are eligible for USPS Media Mail. Using the Restrict Media Mail field, you can restrict one or more Product Class from qualifying for Media Mail. The plugin automatically pulls all the Product Classes that you have created in WooCommerce and lets you pick which ones you wish to disable the Media Mail shipping option for.

Other Free Alternatives:

Choosing the right shipping plugin for your WooCommerce business depends on your requirements. The e-VS, or Electronic Verification System, allows high-volume package consolidators and mailers to pay postage, special service fees, and documents using electronic manifest files. The files are transmitted over the Internet to a Postal Service™ database. e-VS is designed to make it easy for high-volume package mailers to take advantage of destination entry rates. e-VS mailers must consistently present sufficient volume to destination entry locations to ensure a valid sampling plan can be developed and maintained. If you are an e-VS approved vendor, the premium version of the ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version) comes with seamless integration of USPS e-VS services. You can use the ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label to print e-VS shipping documents like SCAN forms. Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice (SCAN) Form is a consolidated document that contains a master barcode which links all the shipping labels you have printed for the packages and are ready for drop off or pick up service. Here’s a sample e-VS SCAN form generated by the premium version of this plugin:

If you are not an e-VS vendor and do not ship in high volume regularly, the e-VS integration featured in ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label would not be of any use. In this case, you can either use the ELEX EasyPost (FedEx, UPS & USPS) Shipping Method Plugin for WooCommerce (Free Version) or the ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin with USPS Postage for WooCommerce (Free Version). Both of these plugins can be used to print standard USPS shipping documents but do not feature e-VS integration. 

Apart from USPS integration,  ELEX EasyPost (FedEx, UPS & USPS) Shipping Method Plugin for WooCommerce (Free Version) can be used to enable shipping services from not from FedEx and UPS as well. So if you’re looking for a plugin that can integrate multiple shipping carriers into WooCommerce including basic USPS shipping functionality the ELEX EasyPost (FedEx, UPS & USPS) Shipping Method Plugin for WooCommerce (Free Version) is for you. 

ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin with USPS Postage for WooCommerce (Free Version). can help you access USPS shipping rates, customize USPS shipping option titles, selecting countries to offer USPS shipping services to, and more. To use this plugin you will need to have a Stamps.com subscription and this costs a small monthly fee. If you are a small to medium WooCommerce business that needs complex packaging options (like box packing, weight-based packing, etc) and the ability to print standard USPS shipping labels from Woocommerce itself, then the premium version of this plugin is for you. The free version of this plugin can be downloaded here.

Conclusion:

These are the features that make ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version) the best free WooCommerce USPS shipping plugin as it facilitates seamless integration of USPS shipping services and products into WooCommerce.The Premium version allows you to print shipping labels with postage, track shipments, set up USPS Flat rate boxes and custom box packaging methods for the shipments. If you are a small WooCommerce business that needs access to USPS Shipping options and services like Live Shipping Rates, the ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Free Version) is for you. The plugin can be downloaded from here and features:

• Access real-time rates from USPS carrier.
• Set a custom method title for USPS shipping method.
• Set a fallback rate to process shipments when USPS fails to return any shipping rate.
• Option to prioritize Flat rates when they are offered with Package rates.
• Option to customize each service name.

ELEX WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label (Premium Version)  features:

• USPS e-VS shipping documents and postage printing
• Support for configuring USPS Flat Rate boxes
• Price adjustment for WooCommerce USPS shipping services.
• USPS Shipment tracking
• Advanced Box Packing and Weight-Based Packing and more