UPS Shipping Module Enhancement!

[relvar]

Hello All,

Cheers to the VM dev team with the (almost) release of Virtuemart 1.1.  Great job!

If you currently use UPS as your shipping carrier and have

1) odd sized packages (large)
2) multiple packages per order
3) products that are ready to ship in their current form (or already boxed)
4) have packages in excess of 70 lb
or 5) shipments in excess of 150 lbs

you are going to want to give this enhancement to the current UPS module a try. 
The enhancement degenerates to the
standard UPS shipping module with little or no loss of functionality, and the upsides are huge if
you routinely ship according to one of the bullets above.

This module features an optional extension to the Virtuemart shipping system
designed to increase the accuracy of shipping quotations. It does this by adding
an administrative interface by which one defines shipping containers and their dimensions,
plus a rudimentary packing algorithm to efficiently pack products into those containers. With this
extension, UPS obtains more accurate information on product weight and shipping
dimensions and returns more accurate quotes.

Two benefits arise from more accurate shipping quotes:

1) It reduces over quoting which deters customers. More reasonable rates make the
price more attractive.
2) It reduces under quoting, which saves the business money. Under quoted rates
are great for the customer, but cost the business money when the UPS bill comes
in at the end of the month.

Any and all feedback is welcomed and I will fix bugs as they arise. There is a demo Virteumart
installation at www.relvargroup.com , and I encourage you to take a look.  Each product's name
has been altered to include sizes and weight, in additional to certain products defined as
"ready_to_ship" so they constitute UPS packages in their own right.

The standard UPS module with Virtuemart is enabled for a side-by-side comparison. Downloads are also
available at www.relvargroup.com .

Donations are always appreciated.

Thanks,
spencer