Looking for UPS Solution - 1 product = multiple boxes

[wade]

I've been searching around for contributions that might help, but am unable to find anything specific. Hoping someone might can help.

 

We sell automotive parts/accessories. Wheels present a continued problem for us.

 

example: We sell wheel packages that consist of four wheels. One wheel per box. But the shipping is quoted via UPS as one box for all. So we end up losing money on the shipping, because there seems to be no way to let the UPS module know that each product ships in it's own box. In reality, the shipping module quotes a price for one box, for all four wheels and yields one price (lower) for shipping, but the product is actually shipped in four separate boxes, which costs more.

 

Is there any contribution/module available for shipping (UPS) or suggestions to remedy this problem?

 

Thanks!

[Guest]

I am with you on this one. It seems like no one answers these posts. I am in the exact same situation, and I have been searching night and day and finding nothing. Besides the fact that this forum's search engine is horrible.

 

I would see it as having a button asking if there is more then one item per product using an if statement.

 

This would then allow for a second set of inputs to enter the dimensions and so on for the second box. This would work so the customer would never know what is going on behind the wall. But it would give us much better control.

 

Any help would be great.

[Jan Zonjee]

I am with you on this one. It seems like no one answers these posts. I am in the exact same situation, and I have been searching night and day and finding nothing. Besides the fact that this forum's search engine is horrible.

 

I would see it as having a button asking if there is more then one item per product using an if statement.

 

This would then allow for a second set of inputs to enter the dimensions and so on for the second box. This would work so the customer would never know what is going on behind the wall. But it would give us much better control.

 

Any help would be great.

So you need something special for your site for which no contribution is available yet? Adding dimensions to boxes is something that is only found in UPS XML (with the addition of the dimensional support feature) and quite possible the Canada Post contribution. Splitting products over several boxes is not a feature that can be found in there.

 

Since it sounds you are not capable of developing it yourself I suggest you pay a professional PHP developer (I'm not by the way) to develop it for you and then make it a contribution.

 

Just because osC is free doesn't mean everything related to it should be free. This mind-set has been discussed before.

[Guest]

So you need something special for your site for which no contribution is available yet? Adding dimensions to boxes is something that is only found in UPS XML (with the addition of the dimensional support feature) and quite possible the Canada Post contribution. Splitting products over several boxes is not a feature that can be found in there.

 

Since it sounds you are not capable of developing it yourself I suggest you pay a professional PHP developer (I'm not by the way) to develop it for you and then make it a contribution.

 

Just because osC is free doesn't mean everything related to it should be free. This mind-set has been discussed before.

 

Wow alright sounds like you got the wrong idea there. Its just funny how people will reply to someone who needs help only to send a biased attack towards them. I never said that this feature should be installed, or related to it should be installed but the attitudes I am getting from most people on this site make me think this is just the wrong software to use.

 

I am sure there is an answer out there and if not I am sure it can be developed. After taking careful time and playing with the coding I might be able to add this feature also. I only express my thoughts on this because after searching and searching, there has been multiple people asking the same question, or even just to help them where to start and no one has posted a single thing.

 

I picked this software not because it was free, but because of the flexibility that it can withstand. This software is not for myself, it is for the company I work for and we have indeed ran into other problems and have solved them. I found this thread by doing a search and decided to express my comments there so.

[Jan Zonjee]

I am sure there is an answer out there and if not I am sure it can be developed. After taking careful time and playing with the coding I might be able to add this feature also. I only express my thoughts on this because after searching and searching, there has been multiple people asking the same question, or even just to help them where to start and no one has posted a single thing.

OK, if you want an opinion on where to look I would suggest looking at the function quote in includes/classes/shipping.php. There is where the number of boxes with weight is determined for most shipping methods.

 

UPS XML gets its products with weight and dimensions using $cart->get_products(); However, if you just need a list of products_id's you can get away with calling $cart->get_product_id_list();

 

In my opinion you can hack a solution by making a text file with a list of product id's and the way they should be split in boxes and calling and using that in the class shipping (function quote). To make it the "point and click, any fool can use this" version you suggested will take a lot more time. Good luck.

[Guest]

OK, if you want an opinion on where to look I would suggest looking at the function quote in includes/classes/shipping.php. There is where the number of boxes with weight is determined for most shipping methods.

 

UPS XML gets its products with weight and dimensions using $cart->get_products(); However, if you just need a list of products_id's you can get away with calling $cart->get_product_id_list();

 

In my opinion you can hack a solution by making a text file with a list of product id's and the way they should be split in boxes and calling and using that in the class shipping (function quote). To make it the "point and click, any fool can use this" version you suggested will take a lot more time. Good luck.

 

 

Thank you for that, I will be looking into what you have suggested. The point and click method is not even needed, we only have 3 products that have this problem out of a couple hundred.

 

Sorry for exploding before, I have had a long week finding out little things that need to be changed before my deadline.

 

Thank you again!

[techwizard]

I've been searching around for contributions that might help, but am unable to find anything specific. Hoping someone might can help.

 

We sell automotive parts/accessories. Wheels present a continued problem for us.

 

example: We sell wheel packages that consist of four wheels. One wheel per box. But the shipping is quoted via UPS as one box for all. So we end up losing money on the shipping, because there seems to be no way to let the UPS module know that each product ships in it's own box. In reality, the shipping module quotes a price for one box, for all four wheels and yields one price (lower) for shipping, but the product is actually shipped in four separate boxes, which costs more.

 

Is there any contribution/module available for shipping (UPS) or suggestions to remedy this problem?

 

Thanks!

 

I recall a few UPS ship contributions which might cater to your needs however I haven't had direct usage of them. It could be a matter of testing the waters if you will to see what works better as far as the scripts. Just like anything else, be sure to back up your work before you start tweaking it. :thumbsup:

 

Hope you can get the right fix you need! :D

[rhotheta164]

Keep us updated, I also need something like this for my store. We are also currently paying 1/2 the shipping cost on multiple items that cannot fit in one box.

[Guest]

I've been searching around for contributions that might help, but am unable to find anything specific. Hoping someone might can help.

 

We sell automotive parts/accessories. Wheels present a continued problem for us.

 

example: We sell wheel packages that consist of four wheels. One wheel per box. But the shipping is quoted via UPS as one box for all. So we end up losing money on the shipping, because there seems to be no way to let the UPS module know that each product ships in it's own box. In reality, the shipping module quotes a price for one box, for all four wheels and yields one price (lower) for shipping, but the product is actually shipped in four separate boxes, which costs more.

 

Is there any contribution/module available for shipping (UPS) or suggestions to remedy this problem?

 

Thanks!

Hi

I have the same problem. I installed UPS XML and the dimensional support. I can now edit my mutiple box products and specify how many boxes for 1 product. with the size and weight. However when I add the product to the cart and go to the checkout screen with display packages and weight enabled it still shows one package and the total weight and the shipping cost for one package. If I find the solution I will let you know. I may have to hire a professional programmer who is familar with oscommerce because I am losing to much on shipping.

Thanks

[Jan Zonjee]

I installed UPS XML and the dimensional support. I can now edit my mutiple box products and specify how many boxes for 1 product. with the size and weight. However when I add the product to the cart and go to the checkout screen with display packages and weight enabled it still shows one package and the total weight and the shipping cost for one package.

And did you enable dimensional support in the admin of ups xml now? Otherwise it will keep on using the old osC way of calculating boxes.