Using Distance Pricing

Setting up Rate Cards and configuring Distance pricing

This article provides a guide for users responsible for setting Rate Cards and/or completing customer Pricing Setup within Hitrak, using the Distance Pricing Model.

For instructions on using the Site Group Pricing Model, see Using Site Group Pricing. For instructions on using the Zone Pricing Model, see Using Zone Pricing.

For an overview of customer Pricing and Rating, see Introduction to Pricing & Rating.

In this article:

Charge Types

Understanding the Distance Pricing Model

Setting up Distance Pricing

• Rate Cards
• Organisation Settings

Viewing and Updating Rates

Charge Types

Charge Types are the measurement used to price consignments, e.g. weight, volume, freight unit. These must be configured for all Pricing Models to apply customer rates. Hitrak supports the following Charge Types:

Cubage: Charged by the consignment's total volume in cubic metres.

Weight: Charged by the consignment's total weight in kg.

Per Unit: Charged by unit price x quantity of units in the consignment. This requires Freight Item Types to be configured correctly in the customer Organisation, and each Freight Item Type to have a price in the Rate Card. 

Flat rate: A flat rate for deliveries. This could be useful for customers with a specific type of freight which represents a consistent load on a truck.

Using Multiple Charge Types

It's possible to set more than one charge type for a customer's consignments if required. For example, you may offer a price per unit for each of a customer's freight types, but also have weight-based pricing.

For these cases, you can define a Price Preference for either the Highest or Lowest value rates to apply to the Organisation's consignments when multiple rates are available. Most operators choose to apply whichever rate is the higher of the two.

The system will price based on both Charge Types, and choose which to use based on the price preference that has been set. 

Charge Type Minimums and Limits

Minimums and Limits can be set for the Weight, Cubage and Unit Charge Types. These can be further refined by Service Type.

The Price Preference and Service Type Settings for each Charge Type are configured during the customer's Pricing Setup. See Organisation Settings below for full instructions.

Understanding the Distance Pricing Model

Hitrak's  Distance Pricing model enables Distance-based pricing between the locations related to a consignment's movement.

When it comes to pricing a consignment, the system:

-> Adds the Collection and Delivery Fees.
-> Calculates the kms between locations.
-> Calculates the Inter Region rate (where applicable).
-> Applies freight pricing based on the consignment Service Type and relevant Charge Type.

-> Applies Delivery Extras pricing (where applicable) and Surcharge pricing.

Distance Calculation Options

Within this pricing model, there are 2 options available for distance calculation: Point to Point (P2P) and via Depots (D2D). 

-> D2D calculates the km distance between the Collection address and its closest depot, and the km distance between the Delivery address and its closest depot, and adds these together for the total distance.

-> P2P is a single distance calculation. This uses the direct distance between the Collection address and the Delivery address. 

Depending on the nature of your business, your customers and their freight, you may want to apply one or the other. The Hitrak team will set a default calculation type for your account based on your preference, but different calculation types can be applied to different customers if required.

Distance Pricing Example

The scenario below shows how the two types of distance calculation impact the price of a consignment with the same Rates, Sender, Receiver and Freight details.

Consignment details

• The Freight company uses the Cubage Charge Type
• The following rates apply to their customer's B2C consignments: 
  • A flat rate Collection Fee of $10, and a Delivery fee of $15.
  • A distance Rate per m³.of $1.80 per km.
  • FAF Surcharge of 21.5%
• A consignment is being sent from Grafton, Auckland, to a customer in Parnell.
• The consignment volume is 0.55 m3.

Depot to Depot Calculation 

The total distance is calculated as 24.4km; the Collection address is 14.24km from the closest Depot in Tamaki, and the Delivery address is 10.208km from the closest Depot (the same one in Tamaki).

The total consignment price applied is $59.73:

• Collection & Delivery Fees $25
• Freight Price 24.16 (0.55m3 x 24.4km x $1.80per km) 
• FAF $10.57 

Point to Point calculation

The total distance is calculated as 3.8km, as this is the distance between the Collection address and the Receiver address.

The total consignment price applied is $34.94:

• Collection & Delivery Fees $25
• Freight Price 3.76 (0.55m3 x 3.8km x $1.80 per km) 
• FAF Surcharge $6.18 ($28.76 x 21.5%)

In the next section, learn how to get Distance Pricing set up for your Organisations. 

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Setting Up Distance Pricing

Some of the initial setup in Hitrak for your customer Organisation's pricing will be supported by the Hitrak team, while other steps can be actioned by you and your internal users directly. 

To complete Distance Pricing Setup for each customer, you must first define whether to apply P2P or D2D distance calculation to the Organisation. The Hitrak team will set  your preferred calculation option for the customer, if it is different to the default.

This section provides the detail on the data and processes required to get a customer ready for Rating Consignments and Invoicing customers using the Distance Pricing model.

In this section:

Rate Card Setup

Pricing Setup

Rate Card Setup

Once your pricing has been defined, a Rate Card with the relevant rates for each customer must be provided. The Hitrak team will support this process by providing guidance when required, and entering your Rate Cards into the system for you. If multiple regions of the country are serviced, Inter Region rates must also be provided, to allow consignments being transported between these regions to be priced automatically. 

Once Rate Cards have been entered, all rates are available to view in the customer Organisation's Rates page.

Options

In addition to km-based rates, Hitrak supports considerable flexibility within the Distance Pricing model, offering the following options:

-> Service Type-based rates, e.g., if a customer offers both B2C and B2B deliveries, distinct rates can be applied to each Service Type. 

-> Various Charge Types for pricing consignments. This may differ based on the customers' freight and the rates offered, and can be further refined by Service Type.

-> Inter Region Rates for deliveries with a linehaul component.

-> Collection and Delivery fees. These function as a Base Rate.

-> A Calculated Minimum Price for all Charge Types (excluding Flat Rate). By default, the Collection & Delivery Fees are used as the Minimum Price for consignments.

-> Banded rates to enable pricing based on a quantity or range, for all Charge Types (excluding Flat Rate). E.g., if one rate applies for 1-4 items, another for 5-8 items etc. 

-> Date-based rates. Different rates can be defined in advance for an effective date range, e.g., if an upcoming increase is planned. 

-> Unlimited Delivery Extras, to enable fees for additional services, e.g. furniture assembly or extra time required for delivery.

-> Surcharges for FAF, Hireage (e.g. CHEP pallets) or Export consignments. 

Requirements

The Hitrak team will provide a Rate Card template during the onboarding process.

To ensure we have the right information to maximise your use of the Distance Pricing model, please be aware of the following requirements for customer Rate Cards:

• Inter region rates if multiple regions of the country are serviced.
• Start dates for all rates. 
• Rates for all variations by:
  
  • Service Type
  • Charge Type
  • Start Date
  • Rate Bands

• Collection Fee and Delivery Fee rates.
• Minimums, if different to the combined value of the Collection and Delivery Fees.
• Extras and Surcharges may be included here. As these are managed separately to Rate Cards, these can also be defined or updated at another time.

Limitations

• Banded rates are not available on Delivery Extras, Surcharges or Inter Region Rates.

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Organisation Settings

On the Pricing Setup page, settings are defined to enable the accurate pricing of consignments based on their Requesting Site.

This page is split into two tabs: Rate Card Setup and Service Type Settings. 

Rate Card Setup tab 

These steps can be completed once your Rate Card(s) are imported to Hitrak.

In the Rate Card Setup tab:

-> The Pricing Model and Charge Types are configured.

To configure Rate Card Setup for the first time:

• In the Organisation page, navigate to Pricing Setup. This will open on the Rate Card Setup tab by default.
• Click Configure.
  
• In the Pricing Model field, select Distance Pricing.
• Select the Charge Type(s) for the customer.
  
  

• Click Save to confirm. 

Service Type Settings tab

In the Service Type Settings tab, some optional settings for each of the customer's Service Types can be defined. All Service Types configured during the Organisation's setup will be available to edit here. Each Service Type can have:

-> Minimum and Maximum priced values for their Charge Type(s).
-> A Price Preference, to define whether the Highest or Lowest of two rates should be applied to consignments with more than one valid Charge Type.

To set minimums and maximums, or change the Price Preference for a service type:

• Click the relevant Service Type line.
• Enter Minimum and Maximum values where applicable.
• Edit the Price Preference if required (the default value for this field is Highest).

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Viewing and Updating Pricing

There are two pages in a customer's Organisation where the majority of pricing can be viewed: Rates and Pricing Setup.

Delivery Extras and Surcharges can be viewed and configured separately on their respective pages within the Organisation.

In this section:

Understanding the Rates Page

Updating Rates

Updating Service Type Settings

Delivery Extras & Surcharges

Understanding the Rates Page

The Rates page displays the rates for each Rate Card available to a customer. This page is split into 3 tabs. In the case of different rates being applicable for future or prior dates, rates can also be filtered by the Effective Date field.

For customers using Distance Pricing, all configured rates will be shown in the Rates page, as per the Rate Card(s) provided. 

-> The Distance Rates tab provides a view of:

-> The per km Rates by Charge Type unit (e.g. m3, kg, unit) for each Service Type. 

-> Collection and Delivery fees.

-> The Minimum Price for a consignment. 

-> The Inter Region Rates tab displays the rates by Charge Type unit between regions:

 

-> The Delivery Extra Rates tab provides a view of all assigned Delivery Extras, which can be filtered by Service Type.

Updating Rates

For Organisations using Distance Pricing, the Hitrak team will support loading new or updated Rate Cards to any customer Organisation. At this time, it is not possible to modify rates in a Rate Card directly in the Admin Portal.

To add a Rate Card to a customer Organisation, get in touch with us via the Hitrak Helpdesk.  

Updating Service Type Settings

If a Price Preference or Minimum/Maximum priced cubage or weight values have changed, these settings can be edited at any time, as per the initial setup. See above instructions for Service Type Settings. 

Delivery Extras and Surcharges