Handling fees, along with UPS/USPS fees, on a "per item" basis?

[jpwy]

I've searched all over for the answer to this question, and although I found some similar problems/solutions, I haven't found the one we need. I'm looking for an option to integrate a Handling fee on a "per box/item" basis that will be applied to the UPS/USPS shipping fee. I saw the "Zones" and "Tables" options, but it looks like you would have to disable UPS/USPS options and charge a flat shipping fee.
If I leave UPS/USPS shipping options, the Table and Zone rates will show up as a separate selection option for the customer. The charges won't be added together.

What we want is to charge the appropriate UPS/USPS shipping fee, then add a Handling fee of $3.00 for 5 items or less, $6.00 for 6-10 items, $10.00 for 11-20 items, etc.
The items are all the same weight and ship in custom boxes/packages that the client has (one box per item).

Is that possible to do?

Another option I tried was to add the custom shipping box as an "attribute" on each item. I can add the box for $3.00 for each item they buy, but I don't see any way to break it down like we want in the "Attributes Controller" for each item.

Any help is very much appreciated!
Thanks,
jp

[Ajeh]

Are ALL Products per item or some per Item and some per box?

There is a setting in the Shipping modules if the Handling applies to Per Order or Per Box based on how many boxes are calculated based on the settings in the Configuration ... Shipping/Packaging ...

[jpwy]

Thank you for the response. :-)

All products for this store will include 1 box (custom-made by the client) that the product is shipped in. All products are the same size and weight, so they all fit in the one box. The $3.00 Handling fee is going toward the price of each custom box, time for a worker to pack the product in the box, plus a little extra for gas to run the boxes to the nearest UPS/USPS store.
The item/box is where I keep getting confused, because when I think of the box, I think of the custom box for the store; while UPS and USPS considers each box by what they would normally use to ship with (using some kind of size/weight ratio formula of some kind...?).
Each product will ship in the custom box, which will be 3.0 lbs each - which includes the weight of the product and the weight of the box & its internal packaging.

In the Configuration / Shipping/Packaging, this is what I have set:

Shipping/Packaging

Title Value Action Country of Origin United States Postal Code 85396 Enter the Maximum Package Weight you will ship 50 Package Tare Small to Medium - added percentage:weight 0:0 Larger packages - added packaging percentage:weight 10:0 Display Number of Boxes and Weight Status 3 Order Free Shipping 0 Weight Status 0 Shipping Estimator Display Settings for Shopping Cart 1 Display Order Comments on Admin Invoice 1 Display Order Comments on Admin Packing Slip 1

Maybe I need to change the "Maximum Package Weight" to 3.0 lbs.?
I tried setting the per "Order / Box" settings in the UPS and USPS modules, and they both show the same Handling fees applied. I'm guessing the "Maximum Package Weight" setting may fix that?

That could work for us, but I still wouldn't be able to set it to charge a Handling fee depending on the amount of products purchased per order, right? If someone orders 10 products, we only want to charge $10.00 instead of the $30.00 it would be if we did the $3.00 Handling fee "per box." We also don't want to charge only $3.00 for an order that large (if we set it to "per order").

We will do one way or the other if we have to, but I wanted to check if there was a way to combine the two methods first.

Thanks again,
jp

[Ajeh]

Another method would be to customize the shipping module(s) and get the Item Count and multiply that by your Handling fee to compute your own Handling fee that works better for your Products ...

I am assuming that if the order were
qty 1 Product A Handling is:
1 x $3.00

qty 2 Product A Handling is:
2 x $3.00

qty 1 Product A qty 1 Product B Handling is:
1 x $3.00 + 1 x $3.00 = $6.00

qty 2 Product A qty 1 Product B Handling is:
2 x $3.00 + 1 x $3.00 = $9.00

correct?

Then this added to the weight quote from UPS or USPS would be correct, if the corrected Handling fee were added?

[jpwy]

I don't think that's quite what we need, but it's close! I'll try to customize the shipping modules, I think that will be the only way to get it "just right" for us. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Ajeh, you are very much appreciated!!

jp

[rjchaney]

In the example below; what do I do in order to get the price per unit or box quoted? I have per box checked, but it ignores the quantity selected by the customer.

Handling Per Order or Per Box
Do you want to charge Handling Fee Per Order or Per Box?

Order
Box

Another method would be to customize the shipping module(s) and get the Item Count and multiply that by your Handling fee to compute your own Handling fee that works better for your Products ...

I am assuming that if the order were
qty 1 Product A Handling is:
1 x $3.00

qty 2 Product A Handling is:
2 x $3.00

qty 1 Product A qty 1 Product B Handling is:
1 x $3.00 + 1 x $3.00 = $6.00

qty 2 Product A qty 1 Product B Handling is:
2 x $3.00 + 1 x $3.00 = $9.00

correct?

Then this added to the weight quote from UPS or USPS would be correct, if the corrected Handling fee were added?

[Ajeh]

You are asking about USPS but then sound like you are asking about Per Unit perweightunit shipping module then like you want Item Rate item ...

If you go to your Zen Cart Admin and to the Modules ... Shipping ... which shipping modules are installed?

What method are you really wanting to use?

USPS gives real time quotes from USPS ...

Item Rate item gives shipping quotes base on Quantity in the Cart X a rate for the cost ...

Per Unit perweightunit uses the Product weight of the Product X a Rate for the cost ...

[Ajeh]

Oh wait I vaguely remember you from a while back ...

Are you still doing this?

What we want is to charge the appropriate UPS/USPS shipping fee, then add a Handling fee of $3.00 for 5 items or less, $6.00 for 6-10 items, $10.00 for 11-20 items, etc.
The items are all the same weight and ship in custom boxes/packages that the client has (one box per item).

[rjchaney]

I have the USPS plugin installed. Customers order our music CDs. The problem arises when they try to order multiple copies, the quantity does not total. It still only shows a charge for a single box. Is there a fix?

[Ajeh]

If all Products on your site are 3lbs, then first ... change the Maximum Weight to 3 ...

Now do you get the right number of boxes?