Australia Post Shipping Module - Multiple Dispatch Locations

[HeyIts007]

Australia Post Shipping Module - Multiple Dispatch Locations

Unless I'm missing something, there seems to a limitation with applying the Aust Post shipping module, if you deliver product from multiple dispatch locations. For example, my business is an online reseller business, that has manufacturers in different states and locations, who dispatch products direct to the customer on my behalf.

The problem with this seems to be that the Aust Post shipping module only works off one dispatch point location postcode. The Aust Post shipping calculator seems to be calculating the shipping cost based on my location displayed via the Shipping/Packaging Admin area and not the manufacturers dispatch point location ( which can vary depending on which product is purchased, as I have product manufacturers all over Australia ).

This seems a limitation that could be over come by code modification of the Aust Post shipping module, in combination with a postcode auto lookup of the manufacturers / dispatch point location, presumably in the manufactures record table. This might require the addition of a database field for their postcode.

I guess I could add the postcode to the manufacturers name in brackets, so the Aust Post module ( with some modification ) could extract it to be used as part of the lookup for the Post eDeliver Delivery Rate Calculator (DRC) site: http://drc.edeliver.com.au

For example: XYZ Widgets Pty. Ltd. (4057) etc... which would allow the post code to be extracted and used by the shipping calculation module. I assume this apparent limitation might also effect other shipping modules. It does seem a bit inflexible that way.

If anyone has a work around for this I would be pleased to know what it is and welcome any suggestions. I could be missing something that's available, but I've just not set in ZenCart, but I can't see any ZenCart option to deal with this at this stage.

A quick solutions to this would be wonderful, as my business is just starting to gain a small amount of momentum and I've already had problems with the wrong shipping price being applied to an order.

[HeyIts007]

It would be good if this Aust Post shipping module could also handle the packaging dimensions in the calculation. i.e. height, width and depth, but again this seems also a ZenCart limitation of not storing this information about products. very dissapointing

[HeyIts007]

Actually it looks like ZenCart is getting the shipping dispatch postcode from the Dispatch Postcode in the Aust Post shipping module.

Again however this is not ideal as the dispatch postcode varies depending on product purchased and hence manufacturer that dispatches the product to the customer. The manufacturer could be located anywhere in Australia and not just from one fixed location, which seems to be a current limitation of ZenCart and the Aust Post shipping module.

[ozprodrivers]

The ozpost shipping module works fine if it is set up correctly. You are in a unique position that you ship from various locations.
If you want to overcome this then it would be a specific module for your application.
You would then need to allocate each supplier a identifier ie: there post code so that the ozpost module will link in and do its thing.
My advise is
1- Get hold of Rod the developer to see what he can do
2- Do what we do, We are in Qld but use the post code of 2000 so that our suppliers in NSW and VIC are close to the actual rate if sending to WA
At the end of the day we use the free shipper option so that we can dictate the shipping terms. You leave yourself open if you allow the customer to dictate shipping methods. Here is an example customer in WA orders on Saturday we can ship to them Sunday using Aust Post 6PM pickup 500gram, 3 & 5 kg prepaid packs works nice whereas if I was the customer and had the choice I would use the cheapest method as I am paying. Some of the goods we send cannot be sent the cheapest method especially if it needs insurance and registering on top.
I would keep it simple and add in some margin for the above and use Free Shipper. It looks nice makes the customer feel good and whilst it is a play on words works better than allowing them to dictate the freight method.
Obviously the above won't work on offshore orders
On your other issue that is in the set up of the module. You need to enter the dimensions and weight to allow the module to rate the freight.
Hope this helps
Cheers Dave

[HeyIts007]

Thanks for that advice Dave. I will consider it as one path toward a solution. As mentioned, I'm simply a product reseller and my manufacturers could be anywhere in Australia and dispatch from anywhere in Australia. At this stage, I only sell in Australia. I'm a little surprised ZenCart is not set up for this situation.

I'm fairly new to ZenCart so I'm speculating quite a bit about possible solutions to this.

I think a simple ZenCart fix could be to simply add a Post_Code field to the ZenCart MySQL manufacturers_info table and add a form data entry / edit field for that column.

That way any 3rd party shipping module could then look up the manufacturers_info table via a MySQL query against the products table using the manufacturers_id extracted from the products table.

Instead of using the one Dispatch PostCode, any 3rd party module would then use the product manufacturers_info table's new Post_Code field.

It could be made even more elaborate allowing a manufacturer to have multiple dispatch postcodes, that can then be selected by drop list for each product in the product setup. That way each product can be dispatched from a different dispatch location if need be and the dispatch location changed as needed. Or alternatively simply store one dispatch post code with each product. I actually like that idea as it gives total control over the products dispatch location on a per product basis.

However until such a mod is made, I will have to rely on what's available.

Yes have thought about a shipping cost averaging approach, by using NSW as a virtual dispatch point, even though the product actually might ship from anywhere around OZ.

Not quite ready to allow the customer to choose the price manually, however a another cross checking routine, could cross check the customer address post code, against their shipping post code selected, to see if they are trying to fiddle the system and reject a selection that does not match. i.e. if their shipping address is at 3001 Melbourne, but they enter 2001 Sydney for a product coming from Brisbane at 4001.

Still deciding on how to tackle it.

[RodG]

I think a simple ZenCart fix could be to simply add a Post_Code field to the ZenCart MySQL manufacturers_info table and add a form data entry / edit field for that column.

At first glance this seems like a good idea.

However, it all falls apart if you have more than one item in the cart from two different manufacturers with different shipping locations.

Any suggestions on how this could/should be handled?

It could be made even more elaborate allowing a manufacturer to have multiple dispatch postcodes, that can then be selected by drop list for each product in the product setup. That way each product can be dispatched from a different dispatch location if need be and the dispatch location changed as needed. Or alternatively simply store one dispatch post code with each product. I actually like that idea as it gives total control over the products dispatch location on a per product basis.

This also falls apart if more than one dispatch location is needed for any given order.

In theory, it would be possible to step through the cart items to sort via dispatch postcode then obtain multiple quotes and add them all together, but giving 'feedback' to the merchant as to how the quote was actually derived will be a difficult task, not to mention presenting the various options to the customer... eg, what if item '1' from manufacturer 'A' will fit into a 500gm satchel, but this manufacturer doesn't use satchels? and what if item#2 from manufacturer 'B' also fits this satchel, and item#3 from manufacturer 'C' fits a 3kg Satchel and the customer buys items 2 & 3, how can the module(s) present both options (one for each manufacturer) to the customer to select from?
How about if one item can fit a satchel, but the others require parcel rates.. again, presenting these options from a mixed cart will be so overly complex (and confusing to the customer) that it will have a detrimental impact.

However until such a mod is made, I will have to rely on what's available.

If it were as simple as you first suggested it would be a trivial thing to add, but clearly you have failed to take multiple items in the same cart into account.

Still deciding on how to tackle it.

I'm happy to take note of any suggestions you may have regarding the multiple item problem, but I have pondered on this one on and off for a couple of years now and it always ends up in the 'too hard' basket.

Cheers
Rod