[ic] Postage charges

[interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com (Dan Browning)]

At 04:05 PM 6/5/2002 +0800, you wrote:
>Our national postal charges are based on weight, volume and distance.
>
>For instance, a 250g package going 50km might cost $2.75, but the same 
>package going 1000km  could cost $3.80.  Now to throw a spanner in the 
>works, if the package is too bulky (above a certain size), extra charges 
>will apply.  But we can ignore those at present.
>
>What I need to do is to get this scale of charges to work with interchange 
>so that it automagically works out the correct postage and applies it to 
>accounts.
>
>Does anyone know how I would do this?
>
>Regards
>
>John Breen

The first step is to find some data files or online calculators.  Here is 
the US, the USPS has several "zones" to calculate distance, so it provides 
relatively simple CSV tables for integrators.  FedEx has an online form 
that one can use to calculate shipping, and if AU has something similar you 
could build a module that does a POST with all the form data filled out and 
parses the return.  See VENDROOT/lib/Business/FedEx.pm.  (BTW, FedEx seems 
to have changed their form URL because it isn't working for me).  Have fun,


+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Dan Browning, Kavod Technologies <db@kavod.com>
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uncle Ed's Rule of Thumb:
         Never use your thumb for a rule.  You'll either hit it with a
hammer or get a splinter in it.