What is a Surcharge?

When a carrier provides pricing, the figures are calculated and provided based on standard freight. When we describe standard freight, this will be either the type of freight the carrier wants to transport or alternatively, the freight types you have agreed to send with them. Surcharges are utilised by carriers as a method of revenue recovery when a consignment is outside the parameters of the agreed freight type. 

MachShip has a surcharge engine which will allow users to account for these surcharges when pricing up consignments. Ultimately this will allow users all the information required to choose the best service and carrier to undertake the transport. 

How to navigate to create a new Surcharge 

1. Select Admin and Other Options.

Under the Advanced section, select Surcharges.

2. Select the Create Surcharge button.

Select create surcharge through either:

The Actions button:

Or via the Create Surcharge tab in the top right-hand corner. 

Alternatively, you can access the page via the following link.

The create surcharge pop-up will then show. You can create a surcharge via the default surcharges or create an empty surcharge.

How to create a Surcharge via Default Surcharges:

In order to help you when setting up a new carrier, MachShip has facilitated the ability for users to bulk generate new surcharges utilizing known and defined carrier surcharge lists.

Once you clicked on the "Create Surcharge" button, the Create Surcharges window will open and appear as below:

Enter in the Company that should own the surcharge

Then select the Carrier:

Then assign the Link Type:

Link Types will be broken down to be one of:

Link to Carrier -  The surcharge should be assigned against Every account and service for which the owning company has access to

Link to Services: The surcharge should apply for Every account which has the selected service

Link to Accounts:  The surcharge should apply against Every service which is on the selected account

Link to Service and Account Combination: The surcharge should Only apply against the combination of the selected account and service. 

Once the carrier is selected, the default surcharges will be displayed below the link type. This will show the surcharges name and its default pricing.

After selecting the surcharges to add, click on Create Standard Surcharge.

Once you have selected to create, you will then receive a successful notification on the screen confirming the surcharge has been copied to your account. A successful notification will be displayed in green text.

If the surcharge already exists against the company you are adding surcharges to, MachShip will not duplicate the surcharge, instead notify you that it will not be cloned.

Below is an example of how this will be displayed. There was already a set of surcharges saved against the account which are the TNT Oversize Freight OS0, OS1, OS2, OS3 & OS4 - these will not be added to your company as they already exist.

 Note: Though you may have pricing which differs from the default, MachShip suggests that you create the surcharges and then look to edit the pricing rather the creating the surcharge from scratch. 

How to create the Empty Surcharge

If you find that the surcharge you are looking to create is not on the default surcharges list then you are able to generate an Empty Surcharge. This is a surcharge which does not have a pre-defined logic query attached to it. 

To create a standard surcharge that is not a default surcharge. Proceed to Create Empty Surcharge:

1. Information.

To create the surcharge you need to fill out the following fields:

• Company
  
  The company field should be the company which your user is assigned to.
  
  Note: Even if you want to assign this surcharge to a child company only, you need to ensure the surcharge is owned by your company. 
  

• Name, Description, Abbreviation
  
  The Name field will appear on the pricing screen and will outline what the surcharge is.
  
  The Description field will be applied below the surcharge and will allow you to describe the surcharge to the user. 
  
  
  
  The Abbreviation is to be left blank. 
  
  
• Price Type and Price
  
  MachShip can facilitate 2 pricing types for surcharges and these are:
  
  Dollar - Will apply a flat dollar increase to the rate pricing.
  Percentage of Route Price - Will apply a dollar increase which is calculated as a percentage of the rate price. 
  
  Once a price type is selected the user will enter either the dollar or the percentage figure of the surcharge. Please note that these are cost prices and if using a % amount set this as a whole number. E.g 15% should be entered in the price box as 15. 

• Markup and Hard Sell Price
  
  MachShip understands that for surcharges it is possible that a freight re-seller will want to set an alternate sell price to what they have applied to the rate price sell charges. To facilitate this, the user can apply either a percentage markup or a hard sell price which will be set whenever the surcharge applies. 
  
  The percentage markup will calculate the set markup amount to the surcharge cost price when returning prices to the user. 
  
  The hard sell price will apply a flat sell price for the surcharge either for the consignment or per item, no matter what the cost is.

• Cost Minimum and Sell Minimum
  
  If the surcharge being created has a minimum charge, an example would be a tailgate surcharge of $30 per pallet with 2 pallet minimum (or $60), then cost minimum allows for you to account for these charges in MachShip.  
  
  In order to allow users to apply different sell prices on the minimum charges, set these in the sell minimum box. 

2. Surcharge Application Flags.

MachShip understands that different surcharges will apply under different conditions. As such there are a series of flags which can be set which will enable you to customise when and how the surcharge is applied. 

Note: If there are any consignment specific conditions which need to be met to prompt the created surcharge to apply, these will need to be added by the MachShip team. An example of this would be on overlength surcharge which only applies if an item is over a certain length or width. In the above case please set up the surcharge with the links (described below) and pricing and email the conditions through to support@machship.com and these will be promptly added. 

• Automatic
  
  If this flag is set to Yes then the surcharge will apply automatically whenever the applied conditions are met. 
  
  Note: If the surcharge is to apply under specific conditions, as mentioned above, do not set the automatic flag until you have received confirmation that the conditions have been set. If you do not do this then the surcharge will be flagged automatically on every consignment and quote generated. 
  
  
• Is Fuel Levy Exempt
  
  There are certain surcharges which will not have the fuel surcharge applicable to them. If this is the case for the surcharge you are creating then set this flag to Yes.
  
  
• Per Matching Item
  
  Certain surcharges are set to apply for each item which meets the conditions. An example of this would be a manual handling surcharge. Set this flag to Yes if your surcharge needs to be applied per item. 
  
  
• Per Leg
  
  Transport providers will, at times, provide what is known as on-forwarding rates whereby the pricing of a consignment is the construction of multiple lane rates or legs. An example of this would be going from Melbourne to Broome and being charged as a Melbourne to Perth + Perth to Broome rate. If the surcharge that is being created is applied independently over each of the legs this flag should be set to Yes. 
  
  
• Only Apply Surcharge to DG
  
  One of the common conditions a carrier will charge a surcharge is when a consignment contains Dangerous Goods. In order to allow users to create this common condition, we have the Only Apply Surcharge to DG flag. When set, in conjunction with the Automatic flag, the surcharge will be applied with every Dangerous Goods consignment created. 
  
  
• Special Instructions
  
  If there is a need to automatically populate a delivery with special instructions when a surcharge is applicable, users can set the text in the special instructions field. 
  
  Note: These instructions will be placed on the consignment once it is created and will not appear in the delivery instructions section on the quote or the create consignment screen. 

3. Links.

The linking of a surcharge will advise MachShip which company, carrier, service or account to apply the surcharge. 

To link a surcharge you need to:

1. Click the Create Link button.

This will prompt the Create Link modal to appear.

2. Set the Company and Carrier.

If you wish to apply this surcharge to all of your clients which have that carrier, set the company field to be your broker company.  

3. Choose the link type. 

There are 4 link types:

• Link to carrier
  
  If the surcharge should link to all services and accounts you have with that carrier, choose the link to carrier option. 
  
  
• Link to Services
  
  If the surcharge is to only apply to a particular service(s), set this option. Once set this will provide a list of all the carrier's services. Select the ones that are required.

• Link to Accounts
  
  If the surcharge is to only apply to a particular account, set this option. Once set this will provide a list of all the accounts you have access to. Select the ones that are required.

• Link to Service and Account Combination
  
  As explained above the Link to Service and Account selection will apply to all services on the accounts selected and all accounts on the service selected. If your surcharge should only apply to a service on an account, select the link to Service and Account Combination option. 
  
  This will prompt the appearance of a set of drop-down options for service and for an account. Select the applicable option.

4. Include/Exclude 

Include/Exclude flag will set if what has been linked is to be included, have the surcharge apply, or be excluded or exempt from the surcharge. By default, this is set to include. 

5. Override Pricing

Override Pricing flag will enable you to set a different price for the surcharge. This will override the price that you have initially set for the surcharge.

6. Create the link type.

Once created the links will be visible in the table at the bottom of the create surcharge page as below:

There can be as many links as required and they will work in conjunction with one another. 

3. Save and Test.

Once all the links have been set up, select the Save Surcharge option and the surcharge will be created. 

Once the surcharge has been created we suggest you test its application. This can be completed through the quotes screen. Quote for a situation where the surcharge should apply and also a situation where the surcharge should not apply. This will provide peace of mind that everything has been correctly set up.

Please note that if there are any conditions which you have requested to be set up by the MachShip team that you wait for confirmation that these have been set up and applied before running your testing.