Method and system for enterprise-level unassisted customer shipping

1. A method of processing payments related to an item that is purchased in a store by a customer and is to be shipped to a recipient, the method comprising:

making the item available for sale in a store;

at a shipping kiosk operatively connected to a network, receiving information relating to the item and a destination where the item is to be shipped in a shipment;

determining a shipping cost for the item based on the destination using a rating engine server operatively connected to the network;

storing information relating to the item and the shipping cost on an operations server operatively connected to the network and associating the information relating to the item with a unique identifier;

receiving the identifier at a point of sale terminal operatively connected to the network that is located at a payment location in the store that is apart from the shipping kiosk; and

using the identifier to obtain the information from the operations server and process an item payment and a shipping payment in a single transaction at the payment location, and wherein the payment location and the shipping kiosk are located in the store.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using the information relating to the item comprising a UPC/SKU identifier to query a rules server using business rules to determine whether the item type may be shipped.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

querying an item packaging database using the information relating to the item to determine if additional packaging material is suggested for the item; and

if additional packaging material is suggested, providing a notification to a kiosk user; and if additional packaging material is not suggested, continuing processing without providing a notification to a kiosk user.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

communicating a recipient selection list to a kiosk user for obtaining the destination information as a selection from the recipient selection list.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving shipper information related to the shipment.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the shipper information is obtained from a customer information database using a customer care card.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

using the information relating to the item to query an item weight database to determine an expected weight for the at least one item; and

determining whether the weight of the item obtained using a scale is substantially equivalent to the expected weight.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the shipper information is obtained from an identification card.

9. A system for processing a payment related to a shipment, comprising:

a processor;

a storage device connected to the processor;

the storage device storing a logic program; and

the processor operative with the logic program to perform:

receiving information relating to at least one item to be shipped in the shipment, wherein a shipping kiosk is utilized in receiving the information;

receiving information relating to a destination for the shipment;

obtaining shipping information including a shipping cost for the shipment from a server;

receiving an identifier media at a payment location and obtaining an identifier from the identifier media at the payment location; and

processing the payment for the at least one item and the shipping cost in a single transaction at the payment location using the identifier to obtain the shipping information from the server, wherein the shipping kiosk and the payment location are co-located in a store.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:

the processor operative with the logic program to perform:

receiving the at least one item to be shipped at a shipping kiosk;

determining shipping information at the shipping kiosk; and

sending the shipping information to the server from the shipping kiosk.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein:

the identifier media comprises a temporary SKU label associated with the single transaction.

12. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code means stored thereon for causing a computer to process payments related to a shipment, said computer-readable program code means for causing computer processes to be effected including:

means for receiving information relating to at least one item to be shipped in the shipment, wherein a shipping kiosk is utilized in receiving the information;

means for receiving information relating to a destination for the at least one item;

means for determining shipping information including a shipping cost for the shipment;

means for storing the shipping information on a server;

means for providing an identifier for retrieving the shipping information;

means for printing the identifier on an identifier media;

means for retrieving the identifier from the identifier media at a payment location; and

means for processing payment for the at least one item and the shipping cost using the identifier in a single transaction at the payment location, wherein the shipping kiosk and the payment location are co-located in a store.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , further comprising:

the computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code means stored thereon for processing shipments, said computer-readable program code means including:

means for receiving the at least one item to be shipped at a shipping kiosk.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the identifier comprises a temporary SKU; and further comprising:

generating a shipping label utilizing the temporary SKU.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining if the item may be shipped comprising determining if the item is hazardous;

if the item may be shipped, prompting the customer to place the item in a box; and

if the item may not be shipped, displaying an error message.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining shipping weight at a post-payment location kiosk.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

if the determined shipping weight is within the expected range, preparing a shipping label; and

if the determined shipping weight is not within the expected range, not preparing a shipping label.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a single sales receipt for the item including a shipping package-tracking identifier.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after receiving the identifier at a payment location in the store that is apart from the shipping kiosk, determining if the identifier is expired; and if the identifier is expired, obtaining a new copy of the information at the payment location without using the identifier, and processing an item payment and a shipping payment in a single transaction at the payment location using the new copy of the information.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the kiosk comprises a plurality of kiosks, further comprising:

before receiving the identifier at a payment location, processing a modification associated with the identifier using at least one of the plurality of kiosks.