About carrier contracts

Contracts establish shipping settings and rates for carriers within your organization's fulfillment network. To begin using a fulfillment context, you must have at least one carrier contract associated with it. Carrier contracts can be shared by multiple fulfillment contexts.

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A carrier contract is required

A valid fulfillment context requires a carrier contract to be associated with it. Your organization won't be able to use the fulfillment context until you link carrier contract to it.

Fulfillment contexts

In order to use Shipium’s APIs, your organization needs to establish your fulfillment network configurations within the Shipium platform. We refer to these configurations as Fulfillment Contexts. A fulfillment context allows you to configure the characteristics for your network origins, carrier contracts, label augmentations, third party billing, injection shipping, and tenants, in addition to other feature settings. To use a fulfillment context, you must establish a carrier contract for it.

Configure carrier contracts

In order to configure carrier contracts, you'll need to access Fulfillment Contexts in the Configure section of the lefthand navigation menu within the Shipium Console. These instructions assume you've already established a fulfillment context in the Shipium platform. If you haven't yet set up a fulfillment context, you can find guidance for how to do so in the fulfillment contexts documentation.

To locate the fulfillment context for which you wish to configure a carrier contract, you can use the search bar at the top of the Fulfillment Contexts homepage or simply scroll through a list of the available contexts. Once you've located the desired context, you can access it by clicking on its name.

Within the Carrier Contracts tab of the context, you can add a new carrier contract by selecting the Add Contract button within the warning message that there is no carrier contract associated with the fulfillment context or by selecting Add a Carrier Contract from the dropdown menu at the right of the screen.

You can create a new contract or select an existing one.

To create a carrier contract, you'll provide details to be associated with it, as shown in the following screenshot and detailed in the sections that follow.

Contract details

For Contract Details, you'll provide a Carrier, Name, optional Unique Identifier, and optional Description. You'll select the Carrier to be associated with the carrier contract from a dropdown menu. The Contract Name should be one that your organization can use to differentiate among your different network carrier contracts. The Unique Identifier is an optional field that can help you more easily reference the fulfillment context in calls to Shipium's APIs. This unique ID is case sensitive. The optional Description can help you organize your carrier contracts.

Carrier settings

Within the Carrier Contracts tab in the fulfillment context, you can edit Carrier Settings by selecting the Edit button.

You can create new carrier settings or select existing ones.

To create a new Carrier Settings configuration, you'll provide details to be associated with it, as shown in the following screenshot and detailed below.

• Carrier Settings Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the carrier settings configuration
• Carrier. Required. You'll select the desired carrier from a list of available carriers in a dropdown menu.
• Peak Surcharge Eligible. Required. You'll select a value of either True or False from a dropdown menu, depending on the eligibility of the carrier settings configuration for peak surcharges.
• Allow Label Failover. Required. You’ll select True to allow failover or False to not allow failover from the dropdown menu. In the case of a carrier label API failure, Shipium can either not generate the label or use the next best carrier. This means that if the carrier was selected and can't be reached, the next-best carrier and ship method will be used. You can find more information about failover in the Carrier Failover document.
• Expected Shipping Volume Overage Percentage. Optional. If your organization has volume-tiered peak surcharges, this number represents the percentage difference between average daily volume versus holiday volume. For example, if you normally ship 50 packages per day and during peak you ship 100, you would enter 200 for this percentage value. A value under 100 indicates that you have less volume during peak.
• Hazmat Limited Quantity Exempt. Required. You'll select a value of either True or False from a dropdown menu, depending on the hazmat limited quantity exemption eligibility of the carrier settings configuration.

Carrier account

Within the Carrier Contracts tab in the fulfillment context, you can edit a Carrier Account by selecting the Edit button.

You can create a new carrier account or select an existing one.

To create a new Carrier Account, you'll provide details to be associated with it, as shown in the following screenshot and detailed below. The information requested for a carrier account is dependent upon the carrier. For this example, United Parcel Service (UPS) appears as the carrier. Fields beyond the Cost Center field for other carriers differ. In addition, some optional fields are dependent upon the carrier account being used for international shipping.

Your Implementation team member is available to assist you in completing any of this information.

• Carrier Account Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the carrier account
• Description. Optional. An optional description your organization can use to help you organize your carrier accounts
• Cost Center. Optional. A cost center identifier can be used for categorizing expenses. When a carrier's API supports it, this field will be sent to the carrier to facilitate accounting.
• Will this Carrier Account be used for international shipping? Required. The default value is No. To designate the carrier account to be used for international shipping, you'll select Yes from the dropdown menu.
• USPPI Address. Optional. Some carriers require the U.S. Principal Party in Interest (USPPI) address for international shipments. This address can also be set for an individual tenant, as described in the Fulfillment Contexts documentation.
• USPPI Contact. Optional. Some carriers require the USPPI contact for international shipments. This contact can also be set for an individual tenant, as described in the Fulfillment Contexts documentation.
• Return To Address. Optional. A returns address is the address where a package will be returned, if it is undeliverable for any reason. You can select an existing return address or create a new one.
• Return To Contact. Optional. A return contact is the person within your organization who serves as the point of contact regarding shipment returns. You can select an existing return contact or create a new one.
• Credentials. Required. You'll select the desired carrier credentials from the list of available carrier credentials in a dropdown menu.
• The remaining fields in this example are specific to the carrier UPS.

FedEx Ground Economy (SmartPost) shipping hub ID requirement

FedEx Ground Economy, formerly referred to as FedEx SmartPost, is a shipping method that requires you to provide an identification (ID) number for the FedEx processing hub located closest to your fulfillment center, or origin.

In order to ship packages via the FedEx Ground Economy service method through Shipium, whether generating labels or using the Carrier Selection service, you'll need to provide a FedEx hub ID when setting up your FedEx carrier account. To indicate your organization's FedEx account will include the Ground Economy service method for a particular fulfillment context (and origin), you'll first toggle the button for FedEx SmartPost to Yes within carrier credentials. Then you'll select your hub ID from the dropdown menu.

UPS account upgrade

UPS made changes to its system and is requiring its customers to upgrade their accounts to integrate with the new UPS system. To complete the transition for you and your customers, all UPS accounts will need to be registered through Shipium’s system. To begin the process, within the UPS carrier account's Credentials section, you'll select Verify Account and Generate Token.

You'll be directed to log in to your UPS account and verify registration. You’ll need to check the box indicating that you agree to the UPS Technology Agreement and you authorize Shipping Connection Service to access your UPS account before logging in to your account.

Once registration is done, you’ll receive a message notifying you that your UPS registration was successful. You'll close that tab and return to the Shipium Console to complete setup.

USPS Direct

For information about USPS Direct required credentials, you can refer to the USPS Direct documentation.

Carrier rates

You can establish rates and surcharges your organization has for the carrier contract for a fulfillment context. The interface allows you to export a rate and surcharges table to complete and upload into the Shipium Console for the selected carrier service method. However, you must have your carrier account configured before you're allowed to enter carrier rates.

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Carrier account required to establish rates

You must have a carrier account configured before you can configure carrier rates for the carrier contract.

You can add a new carrier rate configuration or select an existing one.

To create a new carrier rate, you'll provide details to be associated with it, as shown in the following screenshot and detailed below. You must have a rate configured for each of the applicable service methods for your carrier account that will be used in this fulfillment context. The only case in which you would not be required to provide specific carrier rates is if you designate a carrier rate as uncosted, meaning that Shipium will not attempt to cost the method during Carrier Selection. Any changes made to a carrier rate apply across contracts. For example, if you create a rate for Contract A and then add that same rate to a new contract, Contract B, and make changes to the rate within Contract B, the rate also will be changed within Contract A.

• Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the carrier rate
• Description. Optional. An optional description your organization can use to help you organize your carrier rates
• Carrier Service Method. Required. You'll select the desired service method for the applicable carrier from a dropdown menu. You must establish a rate for each carrier service method for your context.
• Dimweight Volume Threshold. Optional. You may have a custom dimweight volume threshold for the applicable carrier service method. This value would replace the minimum volume needed to apply dimensional weight.
• Negotiated Dimweight Divisor. Optional. You may have a negotiated dimweight divisor for the applicable carrier service method. This value is a number set by the carrier that represents cubic inches per pound.
• Allowed Destination Type. Required. You'll select All, Commercial, or Residential as the type of destination address allowed from a dropdown menu.
• Rate Table Start Date. Required. You'll select the date on which you wish the carrier rate to start applying.
• Rate Table End Date. Required. You'll select the date on which you wish the carrier rate to stop applying.

Rate Configuration

• Rating Type. To designate the rate type as Costing, you'll select this option from the dropdown menu. Not choosing Costing will specify rates as uncosted, which means that Shipium will not attempt to cost the method and will only select it during Carrier Selection if no costed methods are available. With a Costing rate type, you'll provide additional information, as noted below.
• Currency Code. Required. You'll select the applicable currency code (e.g., USD, MX$) from the dropdown menu.
• Rate Shopping Cost Modifier. Optional. You may have a cost modifier for this carrier rate. When specified, Shipium will add the amount to the rate calculated for the carrier service method during rate shopping. This value can be a flat rate cost increase or flat rate discount expressed in dollars, or it can be a percentage cost increase or percentage discount expressed as a percentage.

Rate Sheet Configuration

• Upload New Rate Sheet. Optional. You may download a CSV file to complete with the carrier service method rates and upload the file back to the console.

Optional Configuration

The carrier service method for which you're creating a rate may have shipment weight and size thresholds. You can configure a Rate Per Weight Unit by delivery zone for packages that exceed the weight threshold for the rate table to enable rate shopping for the shipment. Similarly, you can enter Minimum Over Weight Rates by zone for packages that exceed the size threshold to ensure the shipment will be rate shopped. If you have both Rate Per Weight Unit and Oversize Rates configured for a carrier service method, the oversize rate takes priority.

• Minimum Over Weight Rate. Optional. These values should be provided instead of normal rates when a package exceeds all weights in the rate table. The minimum over weight rate value is the minimum rate for packages exceeding the maximum weight in the rate table.
• Rate Per Weight Unit. Optional. These values should be provided instead of normal rates when a package exceeds all weights in the rate table. This value will be multiplied by the weight unit to calculate the rate. A package that exceeds the weight threshold for this rate table will not be rate shopped unless rate per weight unit is configured.

When creating a rate, you may also elect to enter any surcharge overrides your organization has negotiated with the carrier applicable to the service method for which you're creating the rate. Surcharges vary by carrier; UPS is the carrier presented in the example screenshot. You can refer to Peak and Other Carrier Surcharges for more information on carrier surcharges.

Test contract configuration

Once you've configured a carrier contract, you can test the configuration using the Test Contract Configuration button on the homepage for the Carrier Contracts tab. The testing tool generates a generic Carrier Selection or Label Service request per the configured service method. If you have a more specific use case to test, you should ask your Implementation team member about using the Rate Calculation Test Tool.

The test will return the API call request body and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) response. You may edit the request body to retest the contract configuration.

Maintain and make changes to a carrier contract

You can access the fulfillment context's carrier contract details, settings, account, and rates via the Carrier Contracts tab within the fulfillment context. Each section includes an Edit button that enables editing of the context component.

Resources

Your Shipium team member is available to help along the way. However, you might find these resources helpful:

• Terms and Definitions

• Troubleshooting Guide

• Contact Shipium Support