Shipping Classes and Default Shipping Methods

I’m trying to solve a problem with shipping and am hoping someone in the community has some ideas.

I am developing a WooCommerce site that ships from multiple locations. We have our main production facility, which is staffed with CSRs and shipping people and where our customers can come to pick up items. We also have a couple of out-of-state suppliers, and both of these kinds of items will be ordered on our website. My problem lies in calculating shipping costs.

I am using IgniteWoo’s WC FedEx Drop Shipping Pro for FedEx shipments, because it allows me to set an origin zip code for our out of state items and calculates shipping directly to the customer. My other shipping methods are Local Pickup, Local Delivery, and SYN Media WooCommerce USPS.

Problem #1: I cannot figure out a way to exclude the out-of-state items from Local options or USPS.

Example: Item is ordered by customer in Texas that is produced at Arizona facility. Main office is in same city as customer, and at checkout they select Local Pickup (Free). We are billed $138 in freight from Arizona->Texas and cannot pass that on to customer after the fact without difficulty and risking angering customer/order cancellation. Ideally, Local Pickup should not be available for items in a specified group.

Problem #2: WooC lacks the ability to pass multi-box shipments to a carrier, and I haven’t found a plugin that will do it either.

Example: A customer orders 1000 dohickeys as one of the items in their order. These 1000 dohickeys fit 250 to a standard size box that is within weight limits and size limits for FedEx Ground shipping. So there are 4 boxes that could ship FedEx Ground. However, WooCommerce only sees the combined weight of the 4 boxes — which exceeds the weight limit for Ground, and so the FedEx API is kicking me into the “Freight” category – much more expensive and offputting to customer.

Any advice or suggestions appreciated. Flat Rate/Table Rate shipping is not really a good option for us due to significant disparity in weight/size of items ordered. I suppose I could work out some approximation of weight rates, but with nationwide shipping, it would be a rough ballpark at best.

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