creating a new module or can I do this already?

I think I'm going to need to heavily modify a module, if not create a new one from scratch for my needs, but I figured I'd ask first.

So I followed a tutorial on here and hack-patched a new item property into the system...volume. So I figured that in coding a new module...I could easily just pull the values from the data base and use that in the logic. I'm okay with that.

My question more explicitly pertains to zone definitions...I support first off is there some documentation somewhere I can read up on zones/zone definitions/zone rates/zone tables...a over of best practices or something so I can get a good idea how to use them all?

Here is our shipping situation. There are three 'zones' I need to use. The US, Canada, and Everybody Else. I have these created within Zone Definitions already, but I'm not sure if I can use that or if I need to create zones manually.

Are there any good tutorials or documentation on creating a shipping module? Er anything really...hell i haven't even been able to find the files yet. I know this is a task...but I'm working hard to stick to it. Any suggestions or information you could offer me would be greatly appreciated! Thankyou for your time!

Nope, you don't have to create anything new. I use the EXACT same shipping methods, and I use the Duplicate Table Rate mod from the download section.
Now, when you get this, the table you will see is for Canada, but you can "clone" this table (Be sure to rename EVERY instance of "Canada" ie: "canadarush") as many times as you need to get all the tables that you need, then define each one.
Hope this helps.

ahhh! Thats what I'm looking for I imagine. Thankyou AGAIN for the prompt and delicious help!