Shipping Carriers in Odoo 19
Rate Shopping & Label Printing

Your Warehouse Ships 200 Parcels a Day. Your Team Still Copies Tracking Numbers from Carrier Websites.

We audit Odoo warehouses every month. The pattern is always the same: the sales pipeline is automated, invoices post on confirmation, inventory adjusts in real time — and then someone opens a browser tab to FedEx Ship Manager, manually types the recipient address, prints a label, and pastes the tracking number back into Odoo. Two minutes per parcel, 200 parcels a day, one full-time employee doing nothing but copy-paste.

Odoo 19 ships with native integrations for FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS, bpost, Easypost, and Sendcloud. These aren't third-party connectors that break on API updates — they're maintained in Odoo's core delivery modules. You can fetch live rates, compare carriers, print shipping labels, and push tracking numbers to customers — all without leaving the delivery order form.

This guide walks you through the full setup: from API credentials to your first printed label, then into advanced territory — rate shopping across carriers, automated shipping rules, multi-package shipments, and tracking webhook integration. Every configuration is tested on Odoo 19 Community and Enterprise.

How to Configure FedEx, UPS, and DHL Carrier Accounts in Odoo 19

Before you can fetch rates or print labels, each carrier needs API credentials configured in Odoo. The process differs per carrier, but the Odoo side follows the same pattern: install the delivery module, create a shipping method, and enter your account credentials.

Step 1 — Install the Carrier Modules

Navigate to Apps and install the modules for the carriers you use. Each carrier has its own module:

Step 2 — Create a Shipping Method (FedEx Example)

Go to Inventory > Configuration > Shipping Methods and click New. Here's the configuration for FedEx:

Shipping Method:     FedEx International Priority
Provider:            FedEx
Integration Level:   Get Rate and Create Shipment

── FedEx Credentials ──────────────────────────
FedEx Developer Key:     [your-api-key]
FedEx Developer Password:[your-api-password]
FedEx Account Number:    [your-9-digit-account]
FedEx Meter Number:      [your-meter-number]

── Service Options ────────────────────────────
FedEx Service Type:      INTERNATIONAL_PRIORITY
FedEx Package Type:      YOUR_PACKAGING
Weight Unit:             KG
Label Stock Type:        PAPER_4X6

── Pricing ────────────────────────────────────
Delivery Product:        [Shipping Charge] (service-type product)
Margin on Rate:          10%   (markup over carrier cost)
Free if order amount >=  150.00

The Integration Level field is critical. It has two options:

• Get Rate — fetches live rates but does not create shipments with the carrier. You print labels elsewhere.
• Get Rate and Create Shipment — fetches rates and creates the shipment via API when you validate the delivery order. This is what generates the label and tracking number directly in Odoo.

Step 3 — Configure Your Warehouse Address

Carrier APIs require a valid ship-from address. Go to Inventory > Configuration > Warehouses, open your warehouse, and ensure the Address field on the linked company or partner record includes a complete street address, city, state/province, postal code, and country. Missing or abbreviated state codes are the #1 cause of API errors on first setup.

# Odoo shell: verify your warehouse ship-from address
warehouse = env['stock.warehouse'].search([], limit=1)
partner = warehouse.partner_id
print(f"""
  Name:    {{partner.name}}
  Street:  {{partner.street}}
  City:    {{partner.city}}
  State:   {{partner.state_id.code}}
  Zip:     {{partner.zip}}
  Country: {{partner.country_id.code}}
""")
# All fields must be non-empty for carrier APIs to work

Step 4 — Set Product Weights and Dimensions

Carrier rate calculations depend on accurate product weights. For every product you ship, set the Weight field on the product form (under the Inventory tab). For dimensional-weight pricing (FedEx, UPS, DHL all use it), also set Volume or the individual dimension fields if available.

# Find storable products with no weight set
missing = env['product.product'].search([
    ('type', '=', 'consu'),
    ('weight', '<=', 0),
])
print(f"Products missing weight: {{len(missing)}}")
for p in missing[:10]:
    print(f"  [{{p.default_code}}] {{p.name}}")

Printing Shipping Labels and Managing Multi-Package Shipments in Odoo 19

Once the carrier is selected on a delivery order, validating the transfer triggers the API call that creates the shipment and returns the label. Here's the full workflow:

1. Open the delivery order (Inventory > Operations > Transfers).
2. Set the Carrier field to your configured shipping method.
3. Set quantities done for each product line.
4. Click Validate — Odoo calls the carrier API, creates the shipment, and retrieves the label.
5. The label appears as a PDF attachment on the delivery order (check the chatter / attachments).
6. The Tracking Reference field is populated automatically.

# Simplified flow when you click Validate on a delivery order
# File: addons/delivery/models/stock_picking.py

def button_validate(self):
    # ... standard validation logic ...

    # If a carrier is set with "Get Rate and Create Shipment"
    if self.carrier_id and self.carrier_id.integration_level == 'rate_and_ship':
        res = self.carrier_id.send_shipping(self)
        # res contains:
        # {
        #     'exact_price': 15.42,
        #     'tracking_number': '794644790132',
        # }
        self.carrier_price = res[0]['exact_price']
        self.carrier_tracking_ref = res[0]['tracking_number']

        # Label is attached as binary on the picking
        # Access via: self.message_ids or ir.attachment
        # Label format: PDF (4x6 thermal) or PNG

    return super().button_validate()

Multi-Package Shipments

When an order requires multiple boxes, use Odoo's Packages feature. Before validating the delivery order:

1. Click Put in Pack for the first group of items — Odoo creates Package 1.
2. Set quantities for the next group, click Put in Pack again — Package 2.
3. Repeat until all items are packed.
4. On Validate, Odoo sends each package to the carrier API separately and retrieves a label per package.

Navigate to: Inventory > Configuration > Package Types

Name:              Small Box
Package Carrier:   FedEx
Width:             30 cm
Height:            20 cm
Length:            25 cm
Max Weight:        5.0 kg
Carrier Code:      FEDEX_SMALL_BOX_1

Name:              Medium Box
Package Carrier:   FedEx
Width:             45 cm
Height:            30 cm
Length:            35 cm
Max Weight:        15.0 kg
Carrier Code:      FEDEX_MEDIUM_BOX_1

Name:              UPS Standard Box
Package Carrier:   UPS
Width:             40 cm
Height:            30 cm
Length:            30 cm
Max Weight:        20.0 kg
Carrier Code:      02  (UPS Customer Supplied Package)

Thermal Printer Setup (ZPL Labels)

Warehouse teams need labels printed on thermal printers (Zebra, DYMO), not office laser printers. Configure this at the carrier level:

Shipping Method > FedEx Ground
  Label Stock Type:    STOCK_4X6    (thermal 4x6)
  Label File Type:     ZPL          (Zebra Programming Language)

Shipping Method > UPS Ground
  Label Format:        ZPL
  Label Size:          4x6

── IoT Box / Direct Print Setup ───────────────
Inventory > Configuration > Settings
  [x] IoT Box: enabled (for direct thermal printing)
  OR
  Use browser print dialog with ZPL-to-PDF conversion

── Alternative: CUPS direct printing ──────────
# On the Odoo server, configure CUPS for the Zebra printer
sudo lpadmin -p zebra-4x6 -E \
  -v usb://Zebra/ZD421 \
  -m raw
sudo cupsaccept zebra-4x6
sudo cupsenable zebra-4x6

Tracking Numbers, Customer Notifications, and Delivery Status Updates

When Odoo creates a shipment via the carrier API, the tracking number is stored in the carrier_tracking_ref field on the delivery order. But a tracking number sitting in a database field is useless if the customer never sees it. Here's how to close the loop:

Automatic Tracking Email to Customers

Odoo 19 can send a tracking notification email automatically when the delivery order is validated. Enable this in the shipping method configuration:

Inventory > Configuration > Settings
  Section: Delivery
    [x] Send tracking email to customer on delivery validation

── Email Template Customization ───────────────
Settings > Technical > Email Templates
  Search: "Delivery Tracking"

  Subject: Your order {{object.sale_id.name}} has shipped!
  Body:
    Hi {{object.partner_id.name}},

    Great news — your order has been shipped.

    Carrier: {{object.carrier_id.name}}
    Tracking: {{object.carrier_tracking_ref}}
    Track your package: {{object.carrier_tracking_url}}

    Expected delivery: 3-5 business days

Tracking URL Generation

Each carrier module generates a clickable tracking URL. The carrier_tracking_url computed field builds the correct URL per carrier:

# Each carrier module implements get_tracking_link()
# These are the URL patterns used internally:

# FedEx
f"https://www.fedex.com/fedextrack/?trknbr={{tracking_number}}"

# UPS
f"https://www.ups.com/track?tracknum={{tracking_number}}"

# DHL
f"https://www.dhl.com/en/express/tracking.html?AWB={{tracking_number}}"

# USPS
f"https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?tLabels={{tracking_number}}"

# Multi-package: tracking refs are comma-separated
# e.g., "794644790132,794644790133"
# The tracking URL links to the first package;
# all packages are visible in the customer portal.

Customer Portal Tracking

When customers log into their Odoo portal and view their order, the delivery status and tracking link appear automatically. No additional configuration is needed — the website_sale module reads carrier_tracking_ref and carrier_tracking_url from the linked delivery order and renders them in the order detail page.

# Cron job: update delivery status from carrier APIs
# Useful for displaying "In Transit" / "Delivered" in portal

open_pickings = env['stock.picking'].search([
    ('state', '=', 'done'),
    ('carrier_tracking_ref', '!=', False),
    ('delivery_status', '!=', 'delivered'),
    ('date_done', '>=', fields.Date.subtract(fields.Date.today(), days=30)),
])

for picking in open_pickings:
    try:
        status = picking.carrier_id.get_tracking_status(
            picking.carrier_tracking_ref
        )
        if status == 'DELIVERED':
            picking.delivery_status = 'delivered'
            picking.message_post(
                body=f"Package delivered per {{picking.carrier_id.name}} tracking."
            )
    except Exception:
        continue  # API timeout — retry next cron run

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