Mateo uses the 'Area' rule to target areas without postcodes

Mateo ships his products throughout Chile where it is common to use the name of communes (a small administrative division) instead of postcodes. When his customers checkout in his store, they often fill out the postcode field with the name of a commune such as Lampa, Las Condes or Talcahuano instead of a postcode.

Mateo uses the Area rule feature in Postcode Shipping to target particular areas he wants to offer free shipping to, using their commune name instead of their postcode. We'll step you through the process.

Mateo's delivery areas & rates:
FREE SHIPPING AREA [Local communes]: Free shipping
REST OF CHILE [Everywhere else in Chile]: $20 shipping

Mateo has already:

Installed Postcode Shipping to his Shopify store & connected Carrier Shipping.

Navigated to his Postcode Shipping dashboard.

Create a Shipping Zone for Chile:

The first thing Mateo is going to do is create a Shipping Zone for Chile.

From the Postcode Shipping dashboard, click Shipping Zones, then add Shipping Zone.

Name the Shipping Zone and choose the appropriate country/countries from the list. Mateo chooses Chile from the list of countries.

Click Save.

Create Regions:

Next, Mateo needs to define the areas within the Shipping Zone he wishes to provide delivery to. He can do this by creating Regions. Regions are by default defined by postcodes, however since postcodes are not common in Chile, Mateo makes use of Area rules instead of using postcodes to define his Regions.

Within a Shipping Zone click the option to Add a postcode Region.

Give the Region a title. In this example Mateo calls his Region 'Free shipping areas' and keeps all of the default settings.

In the 'Rule Matches' & 'Rule Exclusions' sections, define a Region by entering Area rules in the 'Rule Matches' and 'Rule Exclusions' fields. Mateo's 'Free shipping areas' Region is only for deliveries in the nearby communes of Viña del Mar, Valparaíso, Quintero, Puchuncaví, Concón and Casablanca, so he creates the following rule:

postcode:Viña del Mar
postcode:Valparaíso
postcode:Quintero
postcode:Puchuncaví
postcode:Concón
postcode:Casablanca

If any of the above communes are entered in the postcode field at checkout they will be included in this Region.

Click Save .

Create a 'Catchall' Range.

Next Mateo needs to add a second Region which acts as a 'catchall' for the rest of the communes in Chile not included in his 'Free shipping areas' Region, or they won't receive shipping rates.

Navigate back to the Shipping Zone (eg 'Chile') and click Add a Region.

Give the Region a name (eg 'Rest of Chile'), and set the 'Catchall' status to Yes. Notice the 'Rule Matches' and 'Rule Exclusions' fields disappear, as no postcodes are needed for a catchall Region.

Click Save.

Add rates:

Once Mateo has created his Regions, he's ready to add Rates.

At the bottom of any Region screen click Add a Rate.

Fill in the Rate details. In this case Mateo adds a 'free' Rate for the 'Free shipping areas' Region, and adds a 'flat' Rate of $20 to the 'Rest of Chile' Region.

Click Save.

The last thing Mateo does is change the language used in his Shopify store to make it really clear to his customers on checkout that they can put their commune name in the postcode field, rather than a postcode number.

From you Shopify Dashboard, click Online Store , then Themes .

Next, click Actions , then from the drop down menu choose Edit languages .

Here you will find the default titles, terms & notices used throughout your site, and you’re able to change many of them.

Mateo chooses Checkout & system.

Then he scrolls down to the 'Checkout Contact' section. In this section he changes the 'Postal code label' and the 'Postal code placeholder' to say ' Commune '. (He can do this because he only ships in Chile. If he were shipping elsewhere he might label the field 'Postcode/Commune'.)

Click Save .

Note: if Mateo were changing the language of his store to Spanish he'd have to make that change also in the Spanish translations fields.

Now when Mateo's customers proceed to checkout in his Shopify store, they will receive shipping rates based on the commune they have entered in the postcode field of their delivery address. Those with a commune matching those specified in the 'Rule matches' field of the 'Free shipping areas' Region will see free shipping, while all other communes will be shown the flat rate of $20.

You can use this setup for your country too! Even though this example is based in Chile, if you need to use the 'Area rule' you can create a similar setup no matter which country you are shipping from or shipping to.

Area Rule 'Keys' you can make use of instead of postcodes:
Postcode:
City:
Town:
State:
Province:
County:

Updated on: 25/11/2022

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!