Shipping with FedEx and USPS from Ruby

Martin Streicher asks:

Are you aware of any gem or library able to create a shipment from FedEx or USPS? Active Shipping is able to quote a shipping price given weight, size, service type, but cannot actually create a shipment. In other words, I would like to get a tracking number back from FedEx, say, and be able to allow fulfillment to download and print a waybill.

Any ideas? Is the waybill generation even possible?

Martin, I found a few things:

There were some older Ruby gems I found which are no longer supported.

Based on what I’m seeing, it seems like this is an important function for the business you are creating, it might make sense to build something with a 3rd party like RocketShip. That way you have a little more guarantee that someone is looking out for the longevity of the platform.

Otherwise, the fedex Ruby gem might be a good fit for what you’re trying to do.

If anyone else has any experience with this I’d love for you to chime in here, and I’m sure Martin would too.

Martin, please let us know what you end up doing once you decide. And of course, post here, if you have any follow-up questions.

thanks,
-Chad

The rocketship.io does look promising, but offers only a PHP library right now. I sent them email to ask if Ruby was available or if I could write an open source implementation.

The ShipRush stuff is aimed mostly at Windows developers. They do have a SOAP interface. I’ve sent them a tweet asking for more information.

The Fedex gem is right on. I need to look for something similar for USPS.