[ic] Shipping Questions - Multiple Boxes Per Item - How to?

[Ed LaFrance]

At 08:08 PM 3/9/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>I've been digging through the archives for a couple weeks now. It seems just
>as I get close to figuring out how to make things work the thread just ends.
>
>I sell heavy products that are in multiple boxes. For instance, product
>ABC001 weighs 200lbs in all and is in three seperate boxes, each weighing
>different amounts. I need to use the UPS lookup method because the cost has
>so much variance depending on the destination and shipping method, such as
>Ground vs. 2nd Day Air. Right now the shipping cost calculation is so far
>off it's basically unusable. I cannot just tack on an additional handling
>fee because the variance in total cost prevents it. A shipment to from
>California to California might actually cost $125 and Interchange is saying
>it runs $50. The farther the destination gets away from my ship to the worse
>things become.
>
>I've come across what appears to be the solution, chained shipping. I have
>been unable to implement this as I don't have any idea how to get the
>product information to include the information regarding the number of
>boxes. It seems that Interchange only allows one weight for each product,
>assuming that each item is contained in one box or package... But 90% of my
>products are multiple boxes that must be shipped in seperate boxes. Since
>the boxes are so large I am unable to just strap them all together as this
>violates the UPS maximum size and weight. Using the UPS Hundredweight lookup
>sheet works for orders over 150lbs but that doesn't fix my problem for less
>heavy items.
>
>Any ideas or example stores that have implemented something along these
>lines? If you know of a thread that fully outlines this procedure please let
>me know, I understand how frustrating it is to constantly re-post the same
>information over and over. But like I said, I haven't been able to find a
>thread(s) that solve my problems.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Jeff @ PLC
>Running 4.8.3 on Linux

I have been down this road once; like much of the stuff I do on a time 
constraint, my solution was designed to get to the end result quickly 
instead of being sophisticated or graceful. I just used a [perl] block to 
parcel out copies of the cart contents into two or more temporary carts, 
each of which represented a "box".  I did the shipping lookup on each, 
tacked on whatever handling fees were needed, and forced the shipping total 
to match my calcs with assign.  The rules for boxing could be by product 
category, or by field called "box_type" which you would set up in products, 
or whatever, it does not matter as long as you can follow them 
programmatically.

No doubt there is a "better" way, but this will get you there.

- Ed L.

===============================================================
New Media E.M.S.               Software Solutions for Business
463 Main St., Suite D          eCommerce | Consulting | Hosting
Placerville, CA  95667         edl@newmediaems.com
(530) 622-9421                 http://www.newmediaems.com
(866) 519-4680 Toll-Free       (530) 622-9426 Fax
===============================================================