Release Notes

Important Notes

As of July 9, 2023: New USPS Ground Advantage Services

  • As of July 9, 2023, USPS introduced the new Ground Advantage™ and Ground Advantage Return services to replace its current First-Class and ground services as described here

    Important

    After September 30th, you must use the UGA service. After that date, use of deprecated services will fail.

  • In addition, PB Expedited APIs now provide new service IDs for the two new services and will discontinue the IDs for the deprecated services.

Important

PB Expedited Service IDs (serviceId) have changed as of July 9, 2023.

The following table shows the new and deprecated services and service IDs. You can also download a Pitney Bowes PDF that explains the changes.

New Service

New Service ID for Expedited

Parcel

Deprecated Service

Deprecated
Service ID

Ground Advantage

UGA

PKG

First-Class Mail

Parcel Select Ground
Retail Ground

FCM

PRCLSEL
STDPOST

Ground Advantage Return

UGA

PKG

First-Class Package Return Service

Parcel Select Return Service

FCM

PRCLSEL

As of July 9, 2023: Required HAZMAT Parameter

  • As of July 9, 2023, PB Expedited and PB Standard are required to use the HAZMAT_TYPE input parameter in the following situations:

    PB Expedited: Shippers using the hazmat special service must use the HAZMAT_TYPE input parameter to specify the type of hazardous material in the shipment. For details, see HAZMAT-Flagged Items for PB Expedited.

    PB Standard: Shippers who previously used the hazmatDetails object must now instead use the hazmat special service and set the HAZMAT_TYPE input parameter to the type of hazardous material in the shipment. For details, see HAZMAT-Flagged Items for PB Standard.

Changelog

Changelog includes all updates for this year and the previous year. Changes from all other years are included on the Changelog Archive page.

Released on 2023-07-09

  • CBDS marketplace shippers must pass seller information when creating an outbound shipment. The marketplace shipper passes the seller ID through the new SELLER_ID shipment option and passes the seller’s address through the additionalAddresses array.

A marketplace shipper is a shipper who uses the same SHIPPER_ID for all sellers and who gives each seller a unique seller ID that is shared with Pitney Bowes.

Released on 2023-06-24

  • Standard Delivery and Returns: Enabled all partners with 2D IMpb barcodes on labels to improve scanning rate.

  • Standard Returns and Standard Delivery: Added two additional fields for the Parcel Tracking Number to the Shipment Options. see Shipment Options.

  • USPS: Pre-release of USPS Rate Change for Ground Advantage and HazMat Compliance for July 9, 2023 effective date, see Hazmat Expedited and see Hazmat Standard.

Released on 2023-05-03

  • The CBDS U.S. Outbound Shipping Lanes have been updated. To download the spreadsheet, see Shipping Lanes.

Released on 2023-04-14

  • CBDS shippers can have multiple delivery solutions. When creating a shipment, a shipper chooses which solution to use for that shipment. The shipper specifies the solution through the new DELIVERY_SOLUTION shipment option.

  • CBDS shippers can print Container Labels for the shipment of containerized parcels to CBDS Hubs.

Released on 2023-04-11

  • The CBDS U.S. Outbound Shipping Lanes have been updated. To download the spreadsheet, see Shipping Lanes.

Released on 2023-04-06

Released on 2023-04-03

Released on 2023-03-09

  • The shipping lanes for CBDS Outbound shipping from the U.S. have been updated. To download the spreadsheet, see Shipping Lanes.

Released on 2023-02-28

Released on 2023-02-15

  • CBDS labels must be used within 14 days of creation.

Released on 2023-01-20

  • The shipping lanes for CBDS Outbound shipping from the U.S. have been updated.

Released on 2023-01-22

  • USPS no longer supports rates for Regional Box A (RBA) and Regional Box B (RBB). You can still use the physical boxes, but you must specify them as Packages (PKG) in the APIs.

Released on 2023-01-22

Released on 2023-01-22

  • The USPS holiday peak shipping surcharge ended January 22, 2023.

Released in 2022

  • Released on 2021-12-18

    • PB Standard Delivery 4X5 and 4X6 labels can now use the BMP format. See Standard Delivery Labels.

    • PB Expedited now includes the hazmat-electronics special service used when shipping used, damaged, or defective electronic devices containing or packaged with lithium batteries. For details, see the PB Expedited Considerations.

  • Released on 2022-11-18

    • The shipping lanes for CBDS Outbound shipping from the U.S. have been updated.

  • Released on 2022-10-31

    • The new CBDS Returns API provides return shipping from Canada to the U.S.

  • Released on 2022-10-03

    • The new CBDS Inbound API provides international shipping from an origin country to Canada.

    • The new Batch Container Labels API prints a batch of container labels for shipping containerized CBDS Inbound parcels to a U.S. Hub.

    • The shipping lanes for CBDS Outbound shipping from the U.S. have been updated.

  • Released on 2022-09-17

  • Released on 2022-08-18

  • Released on 2022-08-11

  • Released on 2022-07-28

  • Released on 2022-07-18

    • CBDS now provides domestic shipping within Canada.

    • CBDS has opened the new Richmond, British Columbia hub. See Canada Hubs.

  • Released on 2022-06-30

  • Released on 2022-05-07

  • Released on 2022-04-30

    • The Standard Returns API now provides the option to return QR Codes as URLs. This is in addition to the option to return QR Codes as Base64-encoded strings.

  • Released on 2022-04-16

    • The NDC (Network Distribution Center) now shows at the bottom of the label.

    • The Tracking Webhook lets you limit events to certain carriers.

  • Released on 2022-04-13

  • Released on 2022-04-03

    • The Rates and Shipments APIs return new special services for non-standard sizes if the new USPS fees for non-standard sizes apply.

  • Released on 2022-03-25

    • The CBDS Track Shipments page has a new URL: https://trackpb.shipment.co/track/.

      The old URL (https://tracking.pb.com) redirects to the new URL, but we strongly urge you to update your code to use the new URL.

  • Released on 2022-03-03

    • The default merchant that comes with developer account is now enabled by default to print PB Standard labels on Sandbox.

  • Released on 2022-01-20

    • The Add Tracking Events API now uses the value PBCS to indicate PB Standard as the carrier. For backward compatibility, the API still accepts previous values.

Changelog Archive

The Changelog Archive contains all Changelog items that are older than the current year and previous year. For more details, see Changelog Archive.