Packing a Product that Ships in Two Boxes using UPS Box Packing

One of our customers came up with an interesting business case that had been bothering her for quite some time. Our customer, Jayne has an online store where she was facing the following issue.

According to Jayne:

Hello! We sell Vials (ex. 1000 seals per package) and they ship in two boxes. We know the box sizes(16″x13″x13″ each) and the weights(21+21 lbs) with the items packed. What would be the best way to set-up the plugin? I’ve been doing trial and errors for a few days now, my biggest hurdle is having one product that ships in two boxes. Much help appreciated.

Thank you!

Looking at Jayne’s issue, it can clearly be said that a lot of WooCommerce store owners face the same issue. Now let’s see how Jayne’s problem can be solved.


Creating Two Products

Considering the fact that the product (Vials) contains 1000 units to be packed in two boxes, one of the smartest things to do would be to consider it as two products. Or at least two packages of the same product.

Jayne can simplify the whole issue by splitting the product into two equal parts, i.e. 500 units of vials, packed in a single box.

By doing so she can easily divide the two packages into two separate product entities.


Creating a Custom UPS Box

Since the issue regarding the quantity is solved, now let’s prepare product packaging. As we know the package dimensions as well as the weight, creating a custom UPS box won’t be that difficult. But first, she needs to select the appropriate UPS Parcel Packing method.

packing algorithm

Now we can create a custom box with the given dimensions. The image below shows how Jayne can easily create a custom UPS box using the UPS Shipping plugin.

custom box

So based on the dimensions and weight limits, Jayne can create a box like this. But creating a box like this means the box will only contain one package of 500 vials. And to ship 1000 vials two such boxes will be selected for shipping.

But if Jayne wants, she can even create a bigger box that will accommodate both packages in one go. Take a look at the image below. It shows another box with larger dimensions and a weight limit.

dimensions

Hence based on her preference, she can now pack the product either in one bigger box or two smaller boxes.

Here are the images of the order being placed using both the smaller and bigger box.

order details

print shipping label

So this way Jayne can configure the UPS boxes to ship a package in either one box or in two separate boxes, based on the weight and dimensions of the product.

2 thoughts on “Packing a Product that Ships in Two Boxes using UPS Box Packing

  1. junk
    junk says:

    Hi there, this is a very curious issue and I’m glad you are coming up with a solution. I have the same problem as Jane except that my one product comes in 2 different size boxes. But first I have some questions about Jane’s solution.

    1) I understand that to break 1 item of 1000 vials into 2 items of 500 each helps the shipping, but how do customers order their 1 product of 1000 vials? What’s the best way to present a single product of 1000 vials, but then have it be 2 products on the back end?

    2) I think there may be an error in creating the larger box. If the original box is 16x13x13 then putting 2 boxes together only doubles one of the dimensions, not all three. Doubling all three dimensions could result in a massive shipping charge because it increases the shipping volume by 8X.
    For example, putting one 16x13x13 box on top of another one would make a single box of size 16x13x_26_, not 32x26x26 (that would be 8 boxes put together).
    What would be the proper way to create a larger box that would ensure only 2 smaller boxes fit in it?

    Ok, now on to my particular problem. I have a single product that is large enough that it ships in 2 boxes. How can I assign two boxes to a single product?
    Boxes are 1) 35x27x8, 35 lbs, and 2) 18x18x19, 21 lbs.

    Thank you!

    • Ujjawal Shirkot
      Ujjawal Shirkot says:

      Hi
      Regarding your queries:

      1) Jayne’s solution was purely based on the assumption that the product will show vial quantity to be 500, instead of 1000. But if you want to show the quantity as 1000 to customers then this solution won’t be valid. Using this solution the customer will have to buy 2 quantity of 500 vials each.

      2) We understand your issue with the Dimensions and yes, if the products are packed only one dimension will increase. So you need to create a box with dimensions 16x13x26 (doubling any one dimension will do).

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