Setting up the Carrier Costs

It is important to set up carrier costs correctly so that the right options are returned for parcel allocation when creating a consignment, and by Delivery Options.

Carrier Service and Associated Cost

If a carrier service has no costs associated with it, then it will never be available for allocation and will never be returned by Delivery Options.

Costs are associated with carriers and are set up via rules. If you have not previously used these, please go through the Cost Rule Components and Cost Rule Examples.

Preparation

Log in to the Delivery Manager Delta environment using the Administrator Login and Password that were generated when your account was set up. Only once your configuration is working satisfactorily in the Delta environment, should you copy it to your own Production environment.

https://dm-delta.metapack.com/dm/ActionServlet?action=home

Cost Setup

  1. Click Setup in the navigation bar:

    Metapack DM Navigation bar. The gear icon for Setup is shown selected.
  2. Move down to the Carriers and Services panel and click the Configure Carriers button:

    Setup > Carriers-Services. The Configure-Carriers button is shown marked.
  3. Click Set Costs next to the Select a carrier dropdown, or ...

    Setup. Configue-Carriers. Shows the Set-Costs button under the carrier-select menu

    .. to set the same costs for all services, click Set Costs by the selected carrier.

    DM_Setup_Configue-Carriers_Set-Costs_2_MRK.png

    The Costs page for the particular carrier will open.

  4. Move down to the Add Cost Rule(s) panel, where the carrier service you selected, or all services if you selected the overall carrier, are ready to have a rule applied.

    Besides ensuring that the relevant service(s) is selected, you should also select the following:

    • The Cost Type (refer to Cost Rule Examples).

    • The required Area(s)/country(s)/zone(s). Leave this blank if the rule is to apply to the whole world),

    • The required Warehouse(s). Leave this blank if the rule is to apply to all warehouses.

    Configure-Carriers. Costs page. Add-Cost-Rules: Service, Area, Warehouse, & Rule Criteria menu shown

    Select Multiple Services, Areas, or Warehouses

    To select multiple Services, Areas, or Warehouses, highlight them using the Shift key (for a range of services) or the Control key (to highlight non-consecutive services).

  5. Construct the rule in the Rule panel. Refer as required to the Cost Rule Components and Cost Rule Examples.

  6. Click Add Rule to activate the rule.

    Add Rule button shown

    The new rule will now appear at the top of the screen, written in English.

    Configure-Carriers. Costs page. The Applies-To section: shows a List-of-Rules

    Import and Export Cost Rules

    There is an Export button on the top right that allows you to export the rules to an Excel file for backup purposes. Such files can be re-imported using the Import Cost Rule(s) panel at the foot of the Costs page.

    DM_Setup_Configure-Carriers_Costs_Applies-To_List-of-Rules_EXPORT_BTN_MRK.png
  7. Optional: Create further rules as required, making sure to apply each one to the correct Service(s), Area(s), and Warehouse(s).

  8. Optional: To modify any of the rules listed at the top of the page, tick the box to the left of it, click the pencil Edit icon A pencil as the Edit icon, move down to the Rule panel shown at the bottom of the screenshot in step 3, make your edits and then click Edit Cost Rule(s) to activate the modified rule.

    Be Careful When You Delete Rules

    There is also a bin Delete icon A trash bin as the Delete icon that allows you to remove selected rules. However, be careful when doing this, as you need to leave at least one rule in place for each service. Otherwise, the service will be deactivated.

Getting started

  1. Configuring your Default Warehouse

  2. Adding Warehouses and Changing your Default Warehouse (Optional)

  3. Adding Carriers to your Account

  4. Adding a Carrier

  5. Configuring your Carrier Services

  6. Activating your Carrier Services

  7. Creating your Carrier 'Service Groups' (Optional but recommended)

  8. Creating and Allocating a test Consignment

  9. Adding New Users and Locking a User to a Warehouse (Optional)