Flat Rate and Zone

I have a few questions about flat rate and zones. First I am selling large items (slot machines) and have my own shipping arrangement which is a flat rate. Here are the details:

Shipping to:
Europe, Canada, Hawaii and Alaska = Call For Quote
United States = $200 per item
CA, WA, ID, MT, NYC, LI = $225 per item
Oregon - $235 per item.

1. Can I leave the weight in each product set at 0 since it's flat rate? Or do I have to at least put a lb or something.
2. I am confused at to zones. Do I create one US zone (for all states at $200), one call for quote Zone, one zone for the 6 states at $225, and a last zone for Oregon? Or do i have to set the zones up all separate (for each and every state and country)?
3. Last under: Modules>Shipping>Flat Rate it only looks like there is one zone that I can select. How can I set up these zones differently.

Anyone know how I can set this up? I did not see anything like this in the tutorials or a few pages of this forum so i am confused.

Will the Zone Table rate add-on module work as a solution for my problem? It is version 1.3.7 and I am using 1.3.9h so I am a little worried.

I think a better one might be the:
Zone & Item Flat Rate

That let's you create your Zone Definitions with specific DETAILS then set the Item Rate per zone ...

Thank you! I have been looking at the add ons but I could not tell by the literature, if the shipping add ons would work for my specific shipping needs. Now I am pointed in the right direction.

OK. I have this module is going to work perfectly for 95% of my store which is slot machines. My question now is, can I use another shipping method in conjunction for my parts. These parts do not have a flat rate they get shipped via a normal carrier.

What is the "normal" carrier for your other products?

UPS is what I am thinking. I do have all the states set up correctly and it works. There are 3 states not set up (Nevada, Hawaii, and Alaska). When I use one of these states the flat rate is not available (which is what I want). I am not using the table rate at all since I am not sure it applies to me and it looks like it's country defined.

For parts I would like to use UPS and store walk in only. I know how install and use the UPS module. I am afraid the flat rate ($200), Store Walk-in, and UPS option will show for any state that is already defined with the flat rate. Any work around here?

Questions on this are:

What determines or identifies the "normal" products from the products that get the Flat Rate?

What happens when both "normal" products and the Flat Rate products are in the same order?

Do you not ship at all to Nevada, Hawaii, and Alaska?

OK Ajeh. Sorry to throw you a curve ball.

The owner wants to just put a $5 flat charge on all parts (there is a part or two that will cost more, but I can put "call for shipping" Meaning there is no need to install USPS or UPS module.

Answers to your questions:

What determines or identifies the "normal" products from the products that get the Flat Rate?

Slot machines that have the state flat rate attached weight over 100lbs. Parts (normal products) weight 1-3 pounds. For parts we only want a flat fee of $5 regardless of part. Maybe for extra parts on the same order we throw a few extra dollars into the cart.

What happens when both "normal" products and the Flat Rate products are in the same order?

If normal and flat rate products are on the same order, no extra charge. Since we charge $200 to ship a slot machine we will not charge extra to ship a few "normal" parts.

Do you not ship at all to Nevada, Hawaii, and Alaska?

We have a ground carrier that only ships to the continental "lower 48 states" United States. While we can ship to Europe, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii we are going to put "call for quote" since we have to find another carrier option. Nevada is now defined and out of the picture.

I order 1 "normal" product ... so shipping is $5.00 ... correct?

I order 10 "normal" products ... what is shipping?

Do *all* "normal" products have 0 weight?

Ajeh:

I order 1 "normal" product ... so shipping is $5.00 ... correct?

I order 10 "normal" products ... what is shipping?

Do *all* "normal" products have 0 weight?

1. You order 1 "normal" product, shipping should be $5.00. Correct
2. You order additional "normal" products shipping adds $2 per additional item.
**Also, You order any "normal" product's with a flat rate product, then no extra shipping for "normal" product. Just keep the flat rate charge. (This is not mandatory but would be nice.)
3. Right now, I have all product weights ("normal" and flat products) set to 0 because I am unsure what to do.

If products that use UPS had weight to calculate the charge and the Flat Rate charges did not have weight ... you could try this code in the ups.php file in the function quote:

        $cost = preg_replace('/[^0-9.]/', '',  $cost);

// bof: build extra charge based on zone
      global $db, $order, $cart;
// build extra charge for zone 22
        $extra_charge22 = 0.00;
        $valid_zone_id = 22;
        $check_flag = false;
        $check = $db->Execute("select zone_id from " . TABLE_ZONES_TO_GEO_ZONES . " where geo_zone_id = '" . $valid_zone_id . "' and zone_country_id = '" . $order->delivery['country']['id'] . "' order by zone_id");
        while (!$check->EOF) {
          if ($check->fields['zone_id'] < 1) {
            $check_flag = true;
            break;
          } elseif ($check->fields['zone_id'] == $order->delivery['zone_id']) {
            $check_flag = true;
            break;
          }
          $check->MoveNext();
        }

        if ($check_flag == true) {
          $extra_charge22 = 7.50;
        }

// build extra charge for zone 40
        $extra_charge40 = 0.00;
        $valid_zone_id = 40;
        $check_flag = false;
        $check = $db->Execute("select zone_id from " . TABLE_ZONES_TO_GEO_ZONES . " where geo_zone_id = '" . $valid_zone_id . "' and zone_country_id = '" . $order->delivery['country']['id'] . "' order by zone_id");
        while (!$check->EOF) {
          if ($check->fields['zone_id'] < 1) {
            $check_flag = true;
            break;
          } elseif ($check->fields['zone_id'] == $order->delivery['zone_id']) {
            $check_flag = true;
            break;
          }
          $check->MoveNext();
        }

        if ($check_flag == true) {
          $extra_charge40 = 10.00;
        }

        $chk_cats = $_SESSION['cart']->in_cart_check('products_weight','0');

        if ($chk_cats > 0) {
          $extra_charge = $extra_charge22 + $extra_charge40;
        } else {
          $extra_charge = 0;
        }
//echo 'UPS adding: ' . $extra_charge . '<br>';
        $methods[] = array('id' => $type,
                           'title' => $this->types[$type],
                           'cost' => $extra_charge + ($cost * $shipping_num_boxes) + (MODULE_SHIPPING_UPS_HANDLING_METHOD == 'Box' ? MODULE_SHIPPING_UPS_HANDLING * $shipping_num_boxes : MODULE_SHIPPING_UPS_HANDLING) );
      }
// eof: build extra charge based on zone

and the extra charge based on Zone is added to the UPS charge(s) that you use ...

Ajeh,

Wow... what can I say? I can't believe you offered up custom coding to help me. I know this took some time and I thank you very much. Your awesome! :clap:

You are most welcome ... glad that this could help you out ... :smile:

Ajeh,

I am really sorry to do this to you BUT... the owner would now like to just put the flat charge for the parts directly into their price. He claims UPS is expensive for his smaller parts and he can actually just add the shipping price directly to each "normal" product (parts).

Meaning, I could enable the free shipping module and select: "Yes, Always Free Shipping" in the catalog detail area. This works great if I only add the slot machine and select the state I get no problems with the flat rate calculation. If I only add the free shipping items by themselves, also no problem (I get free shipping).

The only problem I have (and it's a big one) is that the Flat rate doubles if I add two products to the cart; regardless of free shipping or not. It wouldn't be a problem if I add 2 flat rate products (slot machines), it's only a problem if I add one flat rate product (slot machine) and one "Always Free Shipping" product (parts).

So, if I add one slot machine ($200 flat charge) and one free shipping part it adds another $200 to the cart making the cart total $400 for one slot machine and one supposedly free shipping part. Is there an easy work around here? I suppose I would need to tell the flat rate shipping module to ignore the additional flat price increase if the additional item/s are selected as: Always Free Shipping. Of course I do not know how to do this. Is there an easy fix?

Are you positive the Products you are testing are 1 marked as:
Yes, Always Free Shipping

and 1 marked as:
No, Normal Shipping Rules

I cannot get the Zone Flat Rate zoneflat to charge for the Always Free Shipping ... it only charges for the products marked as:
No, Normal Shipping Rules

Have you made any changes to this shipping module?

I am such a goof ball. I see that it is/was calculating properly all along! So the free shipping module does play well with Flat Shipping module. For those who may have the same problem this solution works well.

Once again thank you for your extensive help. You have helped me solve the biggest dilemma we faced which was an unusual shipping method.

You are most welcome ... thanks for the update that this is working for you ... :smile: