Someone may have an idea about how to use BTO to pull this off, but I have an idea about how this could be handled with custom code.

 

Have a look at these categories:

https://bottos.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=2 - https://bottos.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=2

https://bottos.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=4 - https://bottos.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=4

 

This store (also selling sausage and other perishable products) needed to enforce some minimum purchase quantity rules due to the packaging that they use.  They also required enforcement of specific rules concerning what shipping methods would be available to the shopper (based on zip code) so that overnight shipment would be guaranteed.  All of this, of course, was custom code.

 

Something similar could happen for your situation.  If you can detail out the rules that indicate how the ice weight is to be factored into the process, what service charge is added to the shipping fees, and how we determine which products that applies to, we can certainly implement a solution.

 

Feel free to e-mail me directly to discuss.

Thanks for your speedy reply. First, let me clarify. I am a designer, and not much of a programmer, so I tend to get into trouble. And I may not know/use the proper terminology when it comes to communication, so bear with me.

 

First, I believe we need a way to define the 2 types of products:

 

1. Perishible

2. Non-perishible

 

Is there already a way to do this in the system?

 

Then we need a way to add a weight of 30 lbs to every order of Perishible items (to account for the dry ice and cooler in the shipping calculation). They do not impose a minimum order, but rather they ship in this cooler with dry ice, whether it is full of product or not (i.e. whether the customer buys 1 link or 40 links). They only ship via FedEx.

 

More to come, have a 3-year-old tugging on me...

 

 

 

To add a bit of complexity to this, 1 cooler will hold a capacity of 35.2 lbs of perishible product (not counting the 30 lbs for the dry ice and cooler itself). We set the Maximum Weight Per Package in the Shipping Settings to this value of 35.2, so it knows that it will ship in more than one package if this weight is exceeded; however, the $19.95 handling fee should be added per package, so the customization should dynamically add this handling fee based on the number of packages -- not as a one-time fee after the fact in the total as it now does (regardless of number of packages).

 

Once we have that flag integrated into the store, then the shipping weight has to be bumped based on the logic you describe.

 

None of this is stock functionality - it's only something that can be accomplished with custom programming.  Please call or e-mail to discuss costs/timing.

 

Ideally, we (the client) would like to be able to set/edit these handling fee amounts in the Product Cart admin, rather than them be hard-coded. If it is easier and more cost-effective to hard code them, I would like to be able to adjust them in the code.

 

Let me know if this is enough information to prepare an estimate and time frame. Thanks!