This guide explains how the TFFC Woo-Shipping plugin works, how it sits alongside other shipping tools you may already use, and how to set up common rules — with a worked example. It is written for store owners and their developers. You can edit any part of this page.

1. How WooCommerce shipping works (in one minute)

WooCommerce decides shipping in two layers:

• Shipping zones — geographic buckets you define (by country, province or postcode). WooCommerce picks the first zone that matches the customer’s address.
• Shipping methods — inside each zone you add methods (Flat Rate, Free Shipping, Local Pickup, or a plugin like TFFC). Each method offers the customer a rate at checkout.

The customer sees every rate offered by the methods in their matched zone, and chooses one. If no method offers a rate, they see “no shipping available” and cannot check out — so it matters that something always covers a serviceable address.

2. What the TFFC plugin adds

• Accurate cold-chain rates resolved from TFFC’s central rate card — no manual rate tables to maintain.
• Always current — the plugin pulls the latest rate card from TFFC automatically, so coverage and price changes land without re-uploading anything.
• “Request a quote” gate for addresses or products we can’t rate online, so an order is never taken at the wrong price.
• Shipping promotions — waive or discount shipping by cart value, weight, product, category or customer role.
• Coexistence & “step aside” — runs cleanly alongside other couriers for goods TFFC does not carry.
• Diagnostics & feedback — a serviceability lookup, system-status reporting, and in-plugin feedback.

3. Coexistence & “step aside”

Many stores ship cold-chain goods with TFFC and dry/ambient goods with another courier. The TFFC plugin is built to share the checkout: it prices any cart that contains a TFFC-handled item, and steps aside (offers no rate) when a cart is made up entirely of goods another courier handles — leaving that courier’s plugin to quote them.

You control this with a WooCommerce shipping class. Assign your non-TFFC products to a class (e.g. “Dry goods”), then add that class to the TFFC method’s Step-aside classes setting. On a mixed cart, TFFC prices the whole order; on a dry-goods-only cart, TFFC is silent and your other courier serves it.

Common South African courier / shipping plugins TFFC coexists with:

Plugin	What it does
Bob Go (formerly uAfrica)	Aggregates multiple SA couriers (The Courier Guy, Skynet, RAM, Fastway, Pargo, Bob Box lockers) with live rates at checkout.
The Courier Guy	Official Courier Guy plugin for door-to-door and Pudo locker delivery.
Flexible Shipping (Octolize)	Rules engine for weight/value-based rate tables — often used for dry goods.
Shipping Zones by Drawing (Arosoft)	Draw delivery areas on a map; the customer’s geocoded address is matched to a drawn zone. See section 8.

4. Worked example — a “local” rule (ACME’s Stellenbosch wine)

The scenario: ACME’s wine is stored in Stellenbosch and delivered locally by a third party — a flat R300, or free for larger orders — while everything else ships on the TFFC network. The rule they want: a mixed basket is priced by TFFC; a wine-only basket steps aside for the local delivery rate.

How to set it up (no code):

1. Create a shipping class called Wine and assign it to the wine products.
2. In the TFFC method for the relevant zone, add Wine to Step-aside classes.
3. In that same zone, add native WooCommerce methods for the local rule: a Flat Rate of R300 (you can scope the cost to the Wine class) and a Free Shipping method with your volume threshold.

Result: a wine-and-groceries cart is priced by TFFC; a wine-only cart shows only the R300 / free local rate. TFFC never appears for wine on its own.

Important — where it applies: step-aside is per zone. Wherever TFFC steps aside, a local method must cover that address or the customer is stranded. Because the R300/free rule is Stellenbosch-only, the cleanest setup is a dedicated Stellenbosch zone (with the local methods) ordered above your broad TFFC zone — so wine steps aside only where the local delivery actually runs.

5. Shipping promotions (free or discounted shipping)

Under the TFFC method (per zone) and store-wide, you can add rules that waive or discount the shipping a customer pays. Each rule has one outcome plus conditions; across rules the customer always gets the best (cheapest) match, and no match means the full rate. You remain liable to TFFC for the full base rate, which is recorded on each order for reconciliation.

• Free over a value — e.g. waive shipping when the order is above a set amount.
• Weight guard — cap a promotion so it does not apply to very heavy carts (which cost more to move).
• Product / category — include or exclude specific products or categories.
• Customer role — e.g. a wholesale rate for logged-in trade customers.

6. Serviceability & rate lookup (admin)

On the WooCommerce → TFFC Shipping page there is a lookup tool: enter a postcode, suburb or town, a weight and an origin, and it tells you whether TFFC delivers there, in which zone, and the base rate — without building a test cart.

7. Getting help & sending feedback

Throughout the plugin’s admin screens you will see a small blue “?” next to each section and setting. Hover it to see a short reference code (e.g. SHIP-PROMO), and click it to send TFFC a question, suggestion or bug report about exactly that feature. Quoting the code when you contact TFFC lets us find the right spot immediately.

8. Using a map-drawing plugin (Arosoft “Shipping Zones by Drawing”)

Some stores prefer a map-drawn delivery-area experience. TFFC can supply the serviced area as a KML file that this plugin imports as a delivery zone, so the drawn area reflects where TFFC actually delivers. Note the trade-off: a drawing plugin charges a flat or by-distance rate, so it cannot reproduce TFFC’s dynamic pricing (weight, air vs road, surcharges) — for a store that ships exclusively with TFFC, the TFFC method itself gives the most accurate rates. Talk to TFFC about the current export options.

Need a hand? Use the “?” feedback icon in the plugin, or contact TFFC support.