I run a number of carts for my neighbors who all ship coffee from their farms. They prefer Flat rate shipping and each farm has slightly different needs for how much they want to pack in an envelope or box.

I finally decided to come up with a spreadsheet to allow me to (pretty easily) update the zone rates. I have 3 fiiles which I use for US, Canada and International.

I offer the spreadsheet to those who might like to use it. It works best for cases where items are similar size and shape.

Essentually I have a header where you enter the rates for Flat rate envelopes, the FR Medium and FR Large boxes.

Then in the body of the spreadsheet are columns for how much weight we pack in each. In our example, 2 pounds of coffee fit in an envelope, then perhaps 3 or 4 pounds would be shipped in 2 envelopes, when we get above that weight we go to a large box. Then as the weight increases more we keep the large box and then start adding envelopes again, etc. This works for us because we have essentually 1 product of a particular size.

If this might work for you, you are welcome to use this link to grab the spreadsheet. planet-aloha.com/flat-rate-shipping.xls

When USPS prices change, it takes me just a few minutes to change the prices and recreate a text string for the rates in the module.