Welcome to the first in our eight post Price Modifiers series. In courier businesses, prices often need to vary from shipment to shipment based on a variety of diverse factors and OnTime has streamlined this process to make it simple to setup and use. Whether you are new to OnTime courier software or simply looking for a recap, there will be something in this series for all users. We will start by breaking price modifiers down.
What is a Price Modifier?
Simply put, price modifiers adjust (or modify) the cost of an order up or down.
Price modifiers are the way that OnTime creates accessorial or optional charges on orders. Modifiers can be used to automatically calculate and apply charges such as a fuel surcharge or an additional weight charge to your orders.
Price modifiers can be made to perform various functions and can be grouped to create complex, flexible pricing structures. Modifiers will automatically run in the background when they are applied to orders,so OnTime calculates your prices on-the-fly.
Modifiers are created at a global level; once the modifier is created in OnTime it can be used anywhere and applied to any customer without having to re-create the same modifier. OnTime allows the modifiers to change across multiple price sets, allowing flexibility.
Classification of Modifiers
Modifiers can be classified into two categories: customer and driver. Both categories are used in a similar manner to change pricing, but the driver category is designed to work with employee/sub-contractor pay and the customer category for customer billing.
Types of Modifiers
Different types of modifiers accomplish different tasks. Below you will find a breakdown of our 4 modifiers.
- General Option
- Signature Capture
- Collect on Delivery (C.O.D.)
- Distance base price
Over the next several weeks, we will go in-depth into each section of price modifiers. Below you will find a breakdown of the series:
- What is a Price Modifier?
- Adjusting Prices with Actions
- Defining an Increment
- Importance of Values and Ranges
- Where to Start Calculating
- How to Test a Price Modifier
- Zone Based Lookup Tables
- How to Group Modifiers