1. Metapack
  2. Shipping
  3. Platform Setup
  4. Carriers and Services

Cost Rule Components

Each carrier cost rule is made up of the following components:

  • Carrier service(s). A cost rule is applied to one or more of the carrier's services.

  • Area. A cost rule is applied to a specific area, country or zone. If nothing is selected, then it will apply to the 'Whole World' by default. Typically, each country is assigned to a carrier zone, with the zones being assigned rates, as in the following extract from a carrier rate table:

    DHL_Rates.png

    Such tables also usually provide additional costs per unit of weight (as highlighted above), which are required when setting up the UnitCost per UnitSize in a rule.

    Note

    Zoning has been built into Delivery Manager so that, for particular carriers, you can enter specific costs for delivery to particular postal/zip code areas within a particular country, e.g.

    Area_Charge_UK.png

    And:

    Area_Charge_US.png

    This allows you to offer a competitive rate to your consumers regardless of the delivery destination.

  • Cost Type. The possible types of rules are:

    Note

    For examples of the different Cost Types, refer to Cost Rule Examples.

  • Warehouse. A cost rule can be applied to one or more selected warehouses, The default is to apply the rule to all warehouses.

  • Syntax. The syntax of a rule is made up of some conditional text, in the form of an IF...THEN-style statement that tests particular fields and values. For example, "If the consignment weighs between 1.00 kg and 999.00 kg, add £1.50 to the cost. Then add £2.00 for every additional 3.00 kg".

    The possible fields are as follows:

    • MinValue - This field defines the lower value of the range to which the BaseCost is to be applied, It is 1.00 kg in the above example.

      Caution

      Be careful if leaving this at zero for a Cost Type of Weight or Volumetric Weight - refer to A Note of Caution about Weight Rules).

    • MaxValue - This field defines the upper value of the range to which the BaseCost is to be applied. It is 999.00 kg in the above example.

      This field is set by default to 100 as the maximum number of parcels allowed in a consignment is 99. However, the exact upper limit is always determined by the particular carrier service(s), and so you should set this appropriately.

    • BaseCost - This field defines the cost to be applied to the MinValue-MaxValue range. It is £1.50 in the above example.

    • UnitCost - This field is optional and defines the cost to be applied to each incremental unit of UnitSize. It is £2.00 in the above example.

    • UnitSize - This field is optional and defines the incremental unit to which the UnitCost is to be applied. It is 3.00 kg in the above example. It is always 1 for a Parcel Count.

    • Date Range (From/To) (optional). If From is left blank, the rule will be effective immediately. If To is left blank, the rule will apply indefinitely.

    Note

    Rules are cumulative, in that the system looks at each rule in turn and sums the costs of the individual rules. This means that, if we look at the rate card above, you would not enter a rule for each new weight within a zone, but would instead create one base rule and create an additional rule for each weight increment within the zone.