ups shipping - how does it calculate rate? Mine is too high

I'm trying to understand how UPS calculates shipping for next day and second day delivery. Is it based on weight? Right now I feel my shipping options are very high (both of those what I want to offer). Can somebody help me figure out how I can set these up properly?

any help is greatly appreciated...

Ar you using the latest USPS module??

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?205250-USPS-RateV3-January-27-2013

yes I am

UPS or USPS?
United Parcel Service or United States Postal Service?

UPS generally is weight and zone based. I assume that the UPS module quotes Retail rates since there is no field for an account number.

You say "Too high". Compared to what? Examples?

Its the ups module. my site is: http://server2.geekhost.ca/~shopyand/

Can you tell me if those rates seem high? We are currently not adding weight values to products, do we need to?

UPS and USPS return real time quotes ...

In order for that to happen, you need to have the weight on your Products or it is not possible to get real time quotes ...

If you have a 1lb Product you should enter Product Weight: 1

If you have a 1/2lb Product you should enter Product Weight: 0.5

If you have a 1oz Product you should enter Product Weight: 0.0625

Is there any way to just have flat rate shipping for next day and second day? By that I mean just have to other flat rate shipping options that I can add a price to that will stay the same no matter what?

Try Flat Rate flat ... does it work the way you want for one of these?

If so, you can clone the Flat Rate flat shipping module and set one to one rate and one to the other rate ...

For cloning shipping, you might try a search for:
clone flat
clone item

I just installed UPS shipping plugin (UPS United Parcel Service) in a Zen 1.5.1. And it does not show the rates. The UPS config is as follow:

Enable UPS Shipping: True
UPS Pickup Method: RDP
UPS Packaging? CP
Residential Delivery?RES
Handling Fee: 0
Handling Per Order or Per Box: Order
Tax Class: --none--
Tax Basis: Shipping
Shipping Zone: --none--
Sort order of display: 0
Shipping Methods:
Nxt AM, Nxt AM Ltr, Nxt, Nxt Ltr, Nxt PR, Nxt Save, Nxt Save Ltr, 2nd AM, 2nd AM Ltr, 2nd, 2nd Ltr, 3 Day Select, Ground, Canada,World Xp, World Xp Ltr, World Xp Plus, World Xp Plus Ltr, World Expedite, WorldWideSaver
1DM, 1DML, 1DA, 1DAL, 1DAPI, 1DP, 1DPL, 2DM, 2DML, 2DA, 2DAL, 3DS, GND, STD, XPR, XPRL, XDM, XDML, XPD, WXS

The plan is to FREE Ship for items more than $50.00 and ship via UPS for items less than $50.00.

And I also just realized that in the shopping cart the Weight showes as "0", even though I have two items in the cart with one weighing 5lb. and the other 12lb. why is this happening?

ps. I have both Free Shipping Options and FREE SHIPPING! activated:

Enable Free Options Shipping: True
Shipping Cost: 0
Handling Fee: 0
Total >= 50.00
Total <=
Weight >=
Weight <=
Item Count >=
Item Count <=
Tax Class: --none--
Tax Basis: Shipping
Shipping Zone: --none--
Sort Order: 0

Enable Free Shipping: True
Free Shipping Cost: 0.00
Handling Fee: 0
Tax Class: --none--
Shipping Zone: --none--
Sort Order: 0
:wacko:

Are the two Products marked as either Always Free Shipping or as Virtual Products?

One problem went away, while other questions still exist.

By mistake I had the item weighing 12lb. as free shipping. So when I changed the choice in the product definition to** No, Normal Shipping Rules** the total in the cart became 12lb. This part I understand and fixed. But while checking out, UPS shows the weight as 15lb., I am guessing 15lb. is either coming from UPS tables or a code issue!

My other questions are how would you set up the shipping module and the products themselves, if you have the following cases:

Case:
Item 1 is set to FREE SHIP, $35.00 2lb., will be shipped (by a UPS ground)!
Item 2 is set to Normal Shipping Rules, $130.00 12lb. will be shipped (by a UPS ground)!
When checking out, the cart shows (1) item as being shipped by ups, and it does not show which one is the FREE SHIPPER, and which the shopper is paying for. How can you show this in the checkout process?

How would you setup items in cart that are Set to FREE SHIP with different prices ranges and different weights?
How would you setup items in cart that regardless of the weight and price that are to be shipped by UPS and are NOT FREE SHIP?
Is there a way to allocate and show a different shipping method for different items in the cart?

I wish I could set the rule for prices over/under $x.xx and or weighing over/under xx pounds, but I can't as items being set for FREE ship have different ranges in price and weight.

Guidance appreciated as always. :D

the total in the cart became 12lb. This part I understand and fixed. But while checking out, UPS shows the weight as 15lb
What do you have set in
admin > config > Shipping/Packaging > Package Tare Small to Medium - added percentage:weight

Default of 0:3

This part I understand and fixed. But while checking out, UPS shows the weight as 15lb., I am guessing 15lb. is either coming from UPS tables or a code issue!

So it is showing and adding the tare. Got it.

So it is showing and adding the tare. Got it.
That is what I was getting to