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

[Rick Eicher II]

 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.
>

Maybe way off here but why not add a weight table. This would have the item
# and the weight of a box. So if one item has three boxes then this table
would have three rows for that item. Have user tag or [perl] block...etc.
call all weights with the item number in the cart. Do a ups shipping calc.
on each box. Then add all the shipping up to return the shipping for that
item. Of course you would step through your cart doing this for each item.

Just a thought,
Rick Eicher II
www.pbol.net