
Multi-Piece Shipment Support Available in the Shippo API - mikhaill
https://goshippo.com/blog/multi-piece-shipment-support-available-shippo-api
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numlocked
I confess I don't totally understand shippo; in the event that you are a
business of the size where multiple-carrier headaches are coming into play,
aren't you also of the size where you need a proper order management,
inventory management, and warehouse management system? And those systems tend
to have address validation, shipping integration, label creation, etc. as
built-in features. I don't know why I'd roll my own versions of that stuff on
top of their API layer.

It's definitely a valuable API, but I'd be more likely to take advantage of it
if I were a new SaaS company building logistics software -- Shippo would be a
great shortcut to get to market with the aforementioned features. At that
point I'd be capturing more value in the form of my LoB software than Shippo
could ever capture in their (essentially) cost+ pricing model.

I don't get it -- but I feel like that's my fault and I'm missing the market,
so maybe someone can enlighten me.

Edit: Also this was an interesting read and clever solution to a tricky
migration problem!

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mylifeisshan
Glad that you're addressing the whole shipping industry in your question here!

Shippo customers vary pretty widely. Many inventory and warehouse management
systems actually use our API to get the address validation, shipping
integration, label creation functionalities you mentioned [0]. We're just
white-labeled. These customers want to focus on what they're good at instead
of having to maintain the shipping side of things.

Our other sweet spot are marketplaces [1] who'll never need an OMS or WMS
because products never go through their hands. They want to also tap into
multi-carrier capabilities because of better pricing and convenience for their
end-customers. Again, they use our API as an easy way to plug into the
shipping world without having to deal with all the things.

[0]: [https://goshippo.com/blog/sellbrite-partners-
shippo/](https://goshippo.com/blog/sellbrite-partners-shippo/) [1]:
[https://goshippo.com/case-studies/mercari/](https://goshippo.com/case-
studies/mercari/)

Note: I work at Shippo

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charlesz
This is really great for Shippo, and an issue that I've commented on
before[0]. It's a pretty obvious feature to have missed in the first place,
but taking on the insane complexities of UPS, FedEx, and USPS is a never-
ending up-hill battle (I've done it.)

I'm still longing for the day that Shippo is fully fleshed out so I can
offload that massive infrastructure headache off to someone else.

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11871297](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11871297)

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chrissnell
What's the value proposition here, besides multiple carrier availability? I
was able to create multi-piece shipment labels with the FedEx API in 1999. The
API was stupid-simple and easily implemented in Perl back then. Are you
offering volume discounts even when that volume is split amongst a host of
carriers? I never saw the point in using multiple vendors as a small-/medium-
sized shipper. It was easier to stick with one and have only one set of
shipper-provided supplies to worry about.

~~~
charlesz
Unfortunately things have gotten much more complex since then. Unless things
have changed recently, Shippo offers Commercial Base pricing for USPS and you
bring your own UPS and FedEx numbers.

The developer documentation for UPS is thousands of pages long. The document
explaining how to quote a domestic shipment is over 600. I don't have them in
front of me right now, but FedEx is the same. You can't even integrate
directly with USPS anymore. You have to go through someone like Stamps.com,
Endicia (which are now one and the same), etc.

We only ship 200-300 packages daily, but there are benefits in using multiple
carriers. For one, small lightweight and low-value packages always go USPS.
Flat rate boxes are free and easy to use. Between the two big private guys,
using multiple carriers gives you a negotiating advantage. Our reps probably
visit us twice a month to try and keep on our good side.

Our ERP can calculate the best value and delivery time for a given order. For
example, taking advantage of the FedEx Express OneRate program for a given
package might a) reduce our net cost because the boxes are provided to us for
free and b) get there 2-3 days faster for a buck more versus UPS Ground. And
we can pack 50 pounds into that Express box under the OneRate program.

Stocking supplies isn't too terribly hard. We probably have 20 box sizes we
use, plus FedEx and UPS small/medium/large vendor-supplied boxes and a few
USPS sizes. Takes up a surprisingly small amount of space.

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throwaway745234
It seems to me that it would've been both easier and more logical to turn it
into many-to-many, but I guess easier would've made the article less
interesting.

