Having made inroads on the Royal Mail advanced shipping module and also started the process with Parcelforce (both UK services) I've realised that there is a big gulf between the current shipping system and the reality of how you actually pack items for dispatch.
Let me give you a run down... Take me for example... I have a store with printer ink, maintenance kits, and refilling tools. Some of these need to be (1) individually wrapped which bulks out their dimensions, while others (2) can be packed into a single container and then packaging provided around them. The difference here is that packaging on the first type of product increases the volume for each item, while the latter only increases the volume at the end. Mix them together and it gets a bit more confusing.
Ok... in real terms the first type is actually easier to account for as it is just a case of providing the packed dimensions when inputting the data. The latter is harder as it depends entirely on how much volume the final order uses. But we'll put that aside for a second as there's something else to consider.
What about irregular shaped/sized goods... What I mean is things like say a shelf bracket.. Using standard dimensions it takes up a full cuboid space but in reality you could put 10 of them together and the real volume would be around 2/10ths of that calculated using a basic equation.
Of course I've realised that I'm approaching this from a "raw materials" or OEM type of product view where there's no nice packaging already provided around a product so in that respect I may be slightly at odds with the "normal" online store product line..
Still, I'd be interested to see/hear if others have had any thoughts on this particular problem as I'm giving some serious thought to creating a detailed module that helps with the "shipping problem".
