Services charged automatically at receipt or shipment

Overview

Besides handling, a client can have services billed on every receipt or every shipment without anyone capturing them: trailer unloading, a seal per departure, the trailer’s stay in the yard. They are turned on in their rate card, row by row, and the charge is created along with the handling, on the same invoice.

Before you start

The service exists and is active in the catalog, with a price. See Service catalog.
Permission to edit clients (Super Admin and Admin by default).
Billing module enabled.

Turn it on for a client

Open the client, Pricing tab, and find the service.
Under Auto charge, choose Charge at receipt or Charge at shipment. If you didn’t negotiate a price, leave the amount empty: it is billed at the base price.
Click Save rates.

If the catalog already says On receipt confirmed or On shipment closed, it is enough for the row to exist on the client’s rate card (with an amount, a minimum or any auto-charge option). In the new Rate card version, add the service and pick “When receiving” or “When shipping” under When is it charged?. See Rate card and prices.

What quantity is billed

Rate basis	Quantity
Flat Rate, Per Shipment	1 per document
Per Pallet, Per Carton	Pallets or cartons on the document, based on each product’s packaging
Per Piece	Pieces on the document, in the base unit
Per Weight	Pounds on the document
Per Day	The shipment’s stay (see below); on receipts, left to capture
Per Hour, At Cost, Cost + %	Not calculated: left to capture on the invoice
Per Pallet / Day	Not billed this way

The rate is the client’s negotiated one or, if the row has no amount, the base price. Minimum and maximum apply on the invoice.

Per-day services: the stay

A service with the Per Day basis set to charge at shipment (for example, Trailer yard storage) calculates:

days = calendar days from the earliest arrival of the picked goods to the actual ship-out date − free days

Free days are those on the client’s row or, if none, the catalog’s. If the whole stay falls within free days, there is no charge. If the goods’ arrival cannot be determined, the service is left to capture with the suggestion.

The ones left to capture

When the quantity cannot be derived from the document, the service shows on the client’s invoices, in the Charges to capture block: enter the quantity (hours, days, cost) and click Add to invoice. For per-day services, the field comes suggested with the shipment’s stay. See Invoices: edit and correct.

Tip: the block appears on all of the client’s invoices until the service has a line on that invoice or on another one for the same operation. If it doesn’t apply to an operation, just don’t add it.

Where they show up

In Services to Invoice, with the receipt or shipment number and the same date as the handling.
On the same invoice as that operation’s handling.
On shipments with goods from several clients, each client pays their own services according to their rate card.

Example

Pacific Brands pays 85.00 trailer unloading per receipt and a 12.00 seal per shipment. On their rate card:

Trailer unloading (flat rate): amount 85.00, Auto charge Charge at receipt.
Seal (flat rate): amount empty (base 12.00), Auto charge Charge at shipment.
Trailer yard storage (per day, 35.00, 2 free days): Charge at shipment.

A receipt creates handling + 85.00. A shipment whose goods arrived on the 3rd and left on the 10th creates handling, seal 12.00 and trailer 7 − 2 = 5 days × 35.00 = 175.00, all on the same invoice.

Limits

Only for clients with the row on their rate card: the catalog does not bill these services to anyone on its own.
Main storage and handling are not turned on here: they have their own engine.
A per-pallet-per-day service other than main storage (for example, oversized) is not billed automatically.
Charges are calculated at confirmation or at shipment: if you change the row later, past documents are not recalculated.

Best practices

Use flat rate or per shipment for fixed per-document charges.
Enter free days on per-day services.
Review the client’s first invoice after turning a service on.

Troubleshooting

The service was not billed on the receipt.

The client’s row doesn’t have Charge at receipt and the catalog doesn’t say On receipt confirmed either.
Its basis is per hour or at cost: it was left to capture on the invoice.

Trailer yard storage was not billed.

The stay fell within free days, or the arrival could not be determined: look for it under Charges to capture.

The Charges to capture block shows on every invoice.

That is expected for services with automatic billing and a manual basis.

FAQ

Can I turn it on for every client at once?

No. It is turned on client by client, on their rate card. The catalog value only suggests the moment.

Are they billed on cross-docks too?

At-shipment services yes, when the cross-dock’s outbound leg ships. At-receipt services no: a cross-dock’s inbound receipt creates no charges, neither handling nor services.