How to separate FedEx shipments into separate boxes?

I have a client breathing down our neck about this FedEx Live Rates extension. Could someone explain to me how we can set it up so that each item is considered in its own box? The Max Box Weight seems completely useless unless you only ship in one box, but if you order more than one of this client's product, they each come in their own box. And they have several products, each with different weights, from as low as 10lb @ 21x21x9 to as high as 45lb @ 55x13x13 boxes. I know the extension ignores the dimensions and only deals with the weight, but when you add two of the same product, the client says that the rate that comes back is too low. Thanks...

So you simply want the rates to always assume 1 box per item?

Yep! I asked the client, and they said it would always be in separate boxes. All they sell is mattresses, and mattress covers, and they always print out a separate label for each item and put it in its own box. Seems inefficient to me, but that's the way they do it.

The mattress covers ship in boxes 21x21x9 and either weigh 10lb (30" cover) or 20lb (54" cover), and the 30" mattress comes in a 33x13x13 box and weighs 24lb, and the 54" mattress comes in a 55x13x13 box and weighs 45lb. These are the only products they sell; it's a really small business. But each one comes in its own box.

I finally got them to actually give me an example of what the shipping is SUPPOSED to be, and it definitely is way off.

Two of the product, in OpenCart, get a quote of $17.74 for the 48lb shipment (which would be two boxes, for two products) if shipped to my home address. But the shipping guy there said that it should be $16.61 per box if shipped to my address, so $33.22.... that definitely is a big loss.

Anybody have any suggestions on what to do? Wish I'd have known this before going with all of this, but it's practically impossible to get info out of this client in a timely fashion and my boss doesn't ever push people for information.... I just noticed that the Prestashop FedEx extension actually does allow you to separate shipments into boxes... sigh. Maybe someone can reverse-engineer that for OpenCart?

daledude wrote:I finally got them to actually give me an example of what the shipping is SUPPOSED to be, and it definitely is way off.

Two of the product, in OpenCart, get a quote of $17.74 for the 48lb shipment (which would be two boxes, for two products) if shipped to my home address. But the shipping guy there said that it should be $16.61 per box if shipped to my address, so $33.22.... that definitely is a big loss.

Anybody have any suggestions on what to do? Wish I'd have known this before going with all of this, but it's practically impossible to get info out of this client in a timely fashion and my boss doesn't ever push people for information.... I just noticed that the Prestashop FedEx extension actually does allow you to separate shipments into boxes... sigh. Maybe someone can reverse-engineer that for OpenCart?

if you set the max box weight to 24lbs shouldn't this give the same result?

I set it to Max Box Weight 24lb and it just upped the cost to ship the 48lb to $18.76 from $17.74, so not much of a difference. I have the Average Package Dimensions set to 33 x 13 x 13. :\