Special container shipping question

Hello,

I'm using the latest version of zen cart and I have a question or two.

I ship in special containers (boxes) that hold up to 2 products per container. The products being put in the containers may have different weights. ( the products are uniform in dimensions so I can guarantee that 2 will fit in 1 container.

So my shipping calculation must be the number of containers used and the weight of the products in the containers, plus the cost of each container. I can not calculate the number of boxes by weight alone.

Please, how can I do this with Zen Cart.

Thanks

What shipping module are you using? USPS? UPS? or what?

I am creating a new shipping module for Unishippers.
It is based on the UPS shipping module.

Thank you for your help!
Mike Cassidy

You could customize the UPS module:
/includes/shipping/ups.php

with the code in RED:

        if (!in_array($type, $allowed_methods)) continue;
        // EOF: UPS USPS
        $cost = preg_replace('/[^0-9.]/', '',  $cost);
[B]// bof: add extra container charge
global $total_count;
$extra_charge = 5.00;
$extra_container_charge = (ceil(($total_count/2)) * $extra_charge);
[/B]        $methods[] = array('id' => $type,
                           'title' => $this->types[$type],
                           'cost' => ($cost * $shipping_num_boxes)[B] + $extra_container_charge[/B] + (MODULE_SHIPPING_UPS_HANDLING_METHOD == 'Box' ? MODULE_SHIPPING_UPS_HANDLING * $shipping_num_boxes : MODULE_SHIPPING_UPS_HANDLING) );
[B]// eof: add extra container charge
[/B]      }

      $this->quotes['methods'] = $methods;

Just set your extra charge per container from 5.00 to whatever you want to charge per container ...