Shipping Calculation?

So I have been poking around the forums to try and understand how shipping works, particularly how things get divided into other boxes. So far I have determined:

-- Max box weight (per-shipping method option, UPS) does not actually break the order into a second box

-- Per item box limits: This means that if a product has this set, and the order satisfies its minimum, this line item is placed into a special box. If the item's maximum box quantity is exceeded, it gets another box.

So basically unless someone orders "a box" of some particular individual item, there is no means of actually dividing a shipment into multiple boxes?