ozpost shipping module

tpeck:

(PS - I hope you got the updated .gif by now.)

Yes. Many thanks. (my email has been a little sporadic lately due to many organisational changes).

Cheers
Rod

Hi Rod,

I've just upgraded the mod to 2.08 on my test site.

Do I understand the parcel splitting correctly, whereby if the gross weight of the proposed order is 30Kg's which is greater than what AustPost will allow, eg 20Kg's, it will split the order down and provide (effectively) the shipping rate for 2 parcels, 1 for 20Kg's and 1 for 10Kg's.

And what the customer sees is one shipping charge for his 30Kg order ?

If that's the case, regardless of what settings I use on the Mod re restrain dimensions and core weight etc, anything over 20K'gs reverts to a Flat Rate Quote.

I made sure that the items in the cart had individual dimensions set, (In case that was an issue).

Are there other settings that I have missed, or I have assumed incorrectly as to what the Mod will do.. ?

(Ignore this.. I had the wrong weight set in the Shipping/Packaging Section.!! Doh..!)

It now displays as x2 Parcels..!)

Thanks..!

Cheers,
Mike

Mike_Dean:

It now displays as x2 Parcels..!)

Thanks..!

Cheers,
Mike

Is there anyway to remove the x2 (or however many parcels it splits into) and just display the options ?

Cheers,
Mike

Rod, I have tested the shipping estimator with:

        if ($this->tax_class >  0) $this->quotes['tax'] = zen_get_tax_rate($this->tax_class, $order->delivery['country']['id'], $order->delivery['zone_id']);
$this->quotes['tax'] = 10 ; 
return $this->quotes;   // return a single quote

and

    if ($this->tax_class >  0) $this->quotes['tax'] = zen_get_tax_rate($this->tax_class, $order->delivery['country']['id'], $order->delivery['zone_id']);
$this->quotes['tax'] = 10 ; 
$_SESSION['ozpostQuotes'] = $this->quotes  ; // save as session to avoid reprocessing when single method required

...but unfortunately, it makes no difference to the display. It's exactly the same as before - GST exclusive.

I tried it in a number of browsers and on different machines in case of cache refresh issues. There are none.

Sorry.

Mike_Dean:

Do I understand the parcel splitting correctly, whereby if the gross weight of the proposed order is 30Kg's which is greater than what AustPost will allow, eg 20Kg's, it will split the order down and provide (effectively) the shipping rate for 2 parcels, 1 for 20Kg's and 1 for 10Kg's.

No, it doesn't work like that... Simply put, the parcel splitting (which I've called 'use core weights') ignores the weights calculated by ozpost, and uses the weights (and number of parcels) as calculated by the zencart code. This means YOU set the maximum weight you will ship (which may or may not be 20kgs), and zencart will split the order down if needed.

It does this in a very simplistic manner..... if 20kg is your max, and the cart holds 30kg or products, the quote will be for 2x15kg parcels.
As per the warnings, this may not be physically possible if one item in the cart weighs 20kg and the other weighs 10kg.

Mike_Dean:

And what the customer sees is one shipping charge for his 30Kg order ?

Correct.

Mike_Dean:

If that's the case, regardless of what settings I use on the Mod re restrain dimensions and core weight etc, anything over 20K'gs reverts to a Flat Rate Quote.

It shouldn't do. There must be another factor involved.

Mike_Dean:

Are there other settings that I have missed, or I have assumed incorrectly as to what the Mod will do.. ?

The only thing that comes to mind is your maximum weight settings. This is subject ot the same scaling factor as the other weights - IOW, a max weight of "20" will be interpreted as 20gms if ozpost is set to use gms, or 20kgs if it is set to use kgs.

Mike_Dean:

(Ignore this.. I had the wrong weight set in the Shipping/Packaging Section.!! Doh..!)

I should read this first eh :-)

Mike_Dean:

It now displays as x2 Parcels..!)

Keep in mind this will be two parcels of equal weight, even though it may be physically impossible to achieve in practice.

Cheers
Rod

Mike_Dean:

Is there anyway to remove the x2 (or however many parcels it splits into) and just display the options ?

You'll need to modify the code a little for this - but bear in mind that if you do so you won't have any idea how many parcels are needed (quoted for) with any given order. I feel that this information is essential to know especially since there is no other record of how heavy any given order is and the 'number of parcels' (optionally shown on the estimator page) doesn't get recorded with the order itself.

If you have an item in the store weighing 19.99kg and recieve a quote $30.00, how will you be sure that this quote is for 1 parcel weighting 19.99kg and not 2 parcels weiighing 10.05 kg each (as a result of adding tare weights)?

What if the cart needs to be split into 4 or 5 packages - How will you know?

Anyway, as I said, if you wish to keep yourself in the dark in this regard you'll need to modify the code.

Cheers
Rod

RodG:

You'll need to modify the code a little for this - but bear in mind that if you do so you won't have any idea how many parcels are needed (quoted for) with any given order. I feel that this information is essential to know especially since there is no other record of how heavy any given order is and the 'number of parcels' (optionally shown on the estimator page) doesn't get recorded with the order itself.

If you have an item in the store weighing 19.99kg and recieve a quote $30.00, how will you be sure that this quote is for 1 parcel weighting 19.99kg and not 2 parcels weiighing 10.05 kg each (as a result of adding tare weights)?

What if the cart needs to be split into 4 or 5 packages - How will you know?

Anyway, as I said, if you wish to keep yourself in the dark in this regard you'll need to modify the code.

Cheers
Rod

Hi Rod,

Fully understand and perhaps I should have explained my reasoning.

I only ship a small amount of products directly from here.. and for that purpose the standard Aust Post rates provided by ozpost suffice well and truly as 99% of those orders are under the 20Kg limit, so one carton is sufficient and no need to split.

Apart from that, we list a number of products that are, by themselves, over the 20Kg limit, and these are drop shipped by the suppliers via their courier services

At present, (pre ozpost 2.08) I have to get the customer to email us and get a quote for the shipping charges, so I was hoping to alleviate this and have just the Shipping options displayed with the relevant pricing. Thus reduce the potential for the customer to go elsewhere before I get back to them.

I have done some calculations and the prices our suppliers charge for 1 delivery of say 30Kg's is very similar to what Aust Post quote for 2 x 15Kg's. And this is pretty true across various states, so I'm confident we wont be over estimating using ozpost for the rates and wont be losing money using the suppliers couriers.

Does that explain my logic for not wanting the x2 on screen ?

Cheers,
Mike

tpeck:

.It's exactly the same as before - GST exclusive.
.

Now that was an interesting enough result to really get my curiosity up, because the implication is that the original code is/was actually doing what it was supposed to be doing, namely, setting the tax rate at 10%,

So, upon further investigation I have noticed that ALL of the prices shown in your store are GST exclusive - it isn't just the shipping.

The final costs however are correct..

My test product (your store)

Student Pack A Shows a cost of $90.00 ex GST

FastWay quote (to ivanhoe, VIC) $11.00 ex GST

Then on the checkout page we see:

Sub-Total :$90.00
FastWay Couriers (FastWay Labels (RED)): $11.00
GST: $10.10
Total $111.10

Which is perfectly correct... There is $9,.00 GST on the product, $1.10 GST on the shipping, so total GST is $10.10, making the total cost $90+$11+$10.10 = $111.10

I'll wager that if you set the store to show prices with tax this same order will be displayed as:

Sub-Total :$99.00
FastWay Couriers (FastWay Labels (RED)): $12.10
GST: $10.10
Total $111.10

Note that in this instance, the GST amount shown isn't added to the total, which remains at $111.10 ($99.00+$12.10) - it is displayed merely as a reference to how much GST is included.

As you should be aware, displaying your prices without GST isn't exaclty legal. (not that it bothers me any), but it does make sense that if you are showing the product prices exGST then the shipping prices will/should also be shown exGST, 'cos if one is taxable, then so is the other.

Even if we did get the shipping to show GST inclusive, but the items exGST the checkout screen will be pretty confusing, showing like this:

Sub-Total :$90.00 (ex GST)
FastWay Couriers (FastWay Labels (RED)): $12.10 (inc GST)
GST: +$9.00 for the product,
Total $??????

90+12.10+9 = $111.10 (assuming GST on item only)
or will it be
90+12.10 = 102.10+10.21 = $112.31 (which is the more technically correct) - And what of the GST amount actually shown? The customer will look at this invoice and think there is only the $9.00 GST component, when in reality there is $10.10 - If this is another GST registered company they will probably want to claim the entire $10.10 that they've paid, not just the $9.00 specified on your invoice.

Anyway, this is the situation, and now that I/we know what is going on I can only conclude that the code itself is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing - Namely, which is what you have 'told' it to do, namely, to display ALL prices exGST. The 'fix' therefore is easy.. set your cart to display prices GST inclusive, as the law dictates you should :-)

Cheers
Rod

Mike_Dean:

Does that explain my logic for not wanting the x2 on screen ?

Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that the code will need to be modified to NOT show it.

ozpost.php (v2.0.8) line 505 delete the part of this line that reads:

$description .= "(x".$shipping_num_boxes.")"

Don't delete the "{" that precedes $description and don't delete the ";" that follows the final quote "

Cheers
Rod

RodG:

Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that the code will need to be modified to NOT show it.

ozpost.php (v2.0.8) line 505 delete the part of this line that reads:

$description .= "(x".$shipping_num_boxes.")"

Don't delete the "{" that precedes $description and don't delete the ";" that follows the final quote "

Cheers
Rod

Thanks Rod,

Much appreciated.. Will mod the code later when I get a chance..

Ta
Mike

RodG:

The 'fix' therefore is easy.. set your cart to display prices GST inclusive, as the law dictates you should :-)

Cheers
Rod

Happy to report I am no longer an outlaw!

You were right, of course - took a bit of digging to see why and what to change, but it works well now. Dunno why I didn't see it before.

Thanks again for the great detective work!

Hi Rod,

Thanks for a great product. I have just paid for a six month subscription as OZPOST is worth every cent IMO. I have a few questions and I may have found one error (it may be Australia Post though).

1. Are you able to supply the number of hits my site does to the shipping calculator in any given period. I wish to see how many people many check shipping and dont go on to purchase a product.

2. Do you intend on including the 5kg express post bag.

3. I had a customer from Cocos Islands 6799. When estimating shipping, it returns that the express post takes 4 days longer than normal post. I am sending from postcode 6210.My guess is its Australia Post but I thought it worth mentioning.

Cheers Rick

www.camelotcraft.com.au

rick99:

1. Are you able to supply the number of hits my site does to the shipping calculator in any given period. I wish to see how many people many check shipping and dont go on to purchase a product.

No, I don't have this data to display.

rick99:

2. Do you intend on including the 5kg express post bag.

This is already supported.. The Prepaid Express Satchel
setting enables the 500gm, 3kg & 5kg.
Only one will ever show at any given time though.

Keep in mind that all of them are subject to both size and weight restrictions.

The 3kg XL is listed seperately because not all AustPost outlets carry them.

rick99:

3. I had a customer from Cocos Islands 6799. When estimating shipping, it returns that the express post takes 4 days longer than normal post. I am sending from postcode 6210.My guess is its Australia Post but I thought it worth mentioning.

Your guess is spot on .... How bizarre... I didn't beleive it at first so I tested in the drc.edeliver server (AustraliaPost) and sure enough, same result.. Standard takes 3 days, express takes 8. :ohmy:

Cheers
Rod

Thanks for the quick responce.

I finally got the 5kg bag to work, it did have to do with weights (and not dimensions which I spent an hour playing with :ohmy:).

I have loaded the latest version from your site but there is an icon file missing, ozpost_ppse5k.jpg.

Also, I wish to discuss with you an enhancement which although handy may only be of use to myself. Should I post that info here or should I discuss with you off the board.

Cheers

Rick

www.camelotcraft.com.au

rick99:

I have loaded the latest version from your site but there is an icon file missing, ozpost_ppse5k.jpg.

Yeah... I know :-(

rick99:

Also, I wish to discuss with you an enhancement which although handy may only be of use to myself. Should I post that info here or should I discuss with you off the board.

Post it here, unless you have a very good reason not to.

Cheers
Rod

I sell a range of stamps (about 6000) for card making, they are availble as wood mounted or unmounted. I have set them up with the dimensions of the woodmounted (as they are larger). When a customer selects an unmounted stamp, I am only able to change the weights, and not dimensions under the attribute controller. I believe the dimensions are part of the OZPOST addon.

I would love to be able to change the dimension attributes, as there is about 3cm difference in height, it does throw the postage right out when mulitple stamps are ordered. I have no idea how much work is involved in this so if you could let me know if it is possible without too much work, I would be willing to compensate for this, as long as I can justify the cost.

Please let me know if I hae not made this clear enough.

Cheers

Rick

www.camelotcraft.com.au

I have an install question - pretty basic I guess. While trying to install it, I get a message like this:

Network Connectivity test FAILED
Is cURL installed on your server? (it needs to be). If so, this may be a temporary glitch, try again in a few minutes.
Installation will NOT continue.

I did use the curltester and have checked with my host who says cURL is working on the server.

What is my next step?

rick99:

. I believe the dimensions are part of the OZPOST addon.

Correct.

rick99:

I would love to be able to change the dimension attributes, as there is about 3cm difference in height, it does throw the postage right out when mulitple stamps are ordered. I have no idea how much work is involved in this so if you could let me know if it is possible without too much work,

Yes, this could be done, but the 'without too much work' part is always an issue. .. 'Work' is a relative thing :-)

rick99:

I would be willing to compensate for this, as long as I can justify the cost.
Please let me know if I hae not made this clear enough.

I wouldn't consider adding this to the ozpost module, primarily because it isn't a postage function and would require significant modification to the core code.
However, if the core code ever gets updated to include dimensional data for attributes there wouldn't be any reason for me to not update ozpost to take advantage of it.

As far as a solution to your problem goes, perhaps consider having two sections, one for mounted stamps another for unmounted?
I can appreciate that this will require a fair amount of work to replicate all the stamps so the mounted/umounted can have different dimensions so this may not be viable or practical (especialy if you don't know SQL). It IS a possible solution though.

Cheers
Rod

tlunsford:

What is my next step?

Provide a link to your store

Cheers
Rod

well, problem for me was solved. tho I kept getting the message about connectivity and cURL like the last poster, the tech support on the server said the version 05 was working. I used it instead of 6 or 8 and still had to comment out the testing lines but it finally installed with no errors showing.

So thanks a lot for your non-help.