[thelist] [UPS] Complex Shipping

[Joshua Olson]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Erik Heerlein
> Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 2:35 PM
> 
> I was thinking of incorporating UPS shipping into my site, 
> but now I'm not so sure.

Erik,

Here's a bit of food for thought on this, and quite possibly a sound course
of action:

1.  Open a UPS account and grab their application WorldShip.
2.  Have you developers build you a tool that performs a UPS shipping lookup
as it would if the website performed the lookup.  Also build an interface
that you can access whilst you perform your normal shipping actions.
3.  Everytime you have a package, use WorldShip to figure out what UPS would
charge (this is effectively their bible, so whatever it spits out can be
considered correct).
4.  Likewise, use the web app to run the calculations online.
5.  Track this for a few dozen or hundred packages and record the results
down.
6.  Establish on average how different the numbers end up being.

Bear in mind that the calculations will almost always be different because
of simplifying assumptions that oft are made when using the web service as
to the number and weight of boxes, dimensions, etc.

Then, if you plan on integrating UPS, use the testing numbers to determine a
reasonable markup to add to the value calculated by the web service.  Even
if there are descrepencies, then it can be accounted for using historical
data.

<><><><><><><><><><>
Joshua Olson
Web Application Engineer
WAE Tech Inc.
http://www.waetech.com/service_areas/
706.210.0168