About injection

Injection shipping is the use of an additional mode of transportation, typically long-haul truck, to pick up shipments from a fulfillment center (FC) and transport them to an alternative injection point for delivery by the carrier.

Your organization can use injection shipping to:

• lower shipping costs by injecting a package closer to its final destination;
• increase delivery speed by injecting a shipment closer to its final destination; and
• increase carrier capacity by adding an alternative node in the supply chain delivery process to deliver more packages.

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. Injection shipping is optional but can be established for a fulfillment context.

Configure injection shipping

In order to configure injection for a fulfillment context, 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 injection shipping, 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 Injection tab of the context, you can add an injection site by selecting the Add Injection Site button within the message that there are no injection sites associated with the fulfillment context or by selecting Add an Injection Site from the dropdown menu at the right of the screen.

To create an injection site, you'll provide details to be associated with it, as shown in the following screenshot and detailed below. Some fields do not appear until the desired carrier is selected from the dropdown menu.

• Carrier. Required. You'll select the desired carrier for the injection site from a dropdown menu.
• Site Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the injection site
• Injection Transportation Type. Required. You’ll select from a dropdown menu of two choices: carrier provided or partner provided transportation to the injection site.
  • Carrier Provided Transportation to Injection Site. The carrier is the entity responsible for transporting the shipment to the injection site. This type uses your organization’s origin address as the address for rate shopping.
  • Partner Provided Transportation to Injection Site. Your organization (referred to as partner within the Shipium platform) is the entity responsible for transporting the shipment to the injection site. This type uses the carrier injection site as the address for rate shopping.
• Time in Transit Days. Required. The additional transit time in number of days that your organization expects for shipments going through the injection site
• Rate Modifier. Optional. This is the numerical value of a rate modifier your organization might use for this injection site. It is expressed as either a percentage or a fixed rate.
• Rate Modifier Type. Optional. You’ll select from a dropdown menu of two choices: Percentage or Fixed.
• Injection Site Contact. Required. Once you select the Choose Contact button, you’ll have a choice to select an existing contact or create a new one.
• Injection Site Address. Required. Once you select the Choose Address button, you’ll have a choice to select an existing address or create a new one.
• Limit Destinations. Optional. If toggled on, you’ll be prompted to provide postal codes for destination addresses to which this injection site ships. You’ll download a CSV file for uploading the applicable postal codes.

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Carrier contract required for injection site

Even if you have carrier contracts configured for a fulfillment context, you must add a carrier contract for each injection site.

Add a carrier contract to an injection site

To be used, an injection site must have at least one carrier contract associated with it. Once the injection site is created, you must add a carrier contract. This process is the same as setting up a carrier contract for a fulfillment context.

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 below.

• Carrier. Required. You'll select the desired carrier from a dropdown menu.
• Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the contract
• Unique Identifier. Optional. An optional field that can help you more easily reference the fulfillment context in calls to Shipium's APIs
• Description. Optional. An optional description to help you organize your organization's carrier contracts

Next, you'll need to establish carrier settings.

Add carrier settings to an injection site

Once you configure a carrier contract for the injection site, you'll set up the carrier settings. You can select existing carrier settings or create new 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.

Next, you'll need to establish a carrier account.

Add a carrier account to an injection site

Once you configure a carrier contract and carrier settings for the injection site, you'll set up the carrier account. You can select an existing carrier account or create a new 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. 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.
• Returns 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 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.

Next, you'll need to establish carrier rates.

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. Within the FedEx carrier account's Credentials section, you'll select your preferred SmartPost service method from the dropdown menu. You'll also select your FedEx SmartPost Hub ID from a dropdown menu.

UPS account upgrade

UPS is making changes to its platform (upgrading to an OAuth 2.0 security model) and thus requiring its customers to upgrade their accounts by June 2024 to integrate correctly with the UPS system. The UPS Account Upgrade document provides more information.

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.

Add carrier rates to an injection site

You can establish rates and surcharges your organization has for the carrier contract for an injection site in the 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.

You can select an existing carrier rate configuration or create a new 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 for this injection site.

• 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 Expiration Date. Required. You'll select the date on which you wish the carrier rate to stop applying.
• Uncosted Rates. Optional. You may choose to designate the carrier rate 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.
• Rate Shopping Cost Modifier. Optional. You may have a cost modifier for this carrier rate. This value is provided in a dollar amount, and when specified, Shipium will add the amount to the rate calculated for the carrier service method during rate shopping.
• 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.

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.

Test contract configuration

Once you've configured an injection site's carrier contract, you can test the configuration using the Test Injection Configuration button on the homepage for the Injection 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 use 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.

Add label augmentations to an injection site

Any desired label augmentations for the injection site must be added separately, even if the augmentations are already included in the fulfillment context.

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Label augmentations must be configured

Only the augmentations saved specifically for the injection site will be applied to the site. Label augmentations for the fulfillment context will not apply to injection labels.

You can add label augmentations by selecting the Add button within the Label Augmentations section of the Injection tab. Label augmentations refer to any special printer instructions to be applied when generating a label.

You can create a new label augmentation or select an existing one. The label augmentation applies special Zebra Programming Language (ZPL) printer instructions when generating a label.

To create a label augmentation, you'll provide details to be associated with it, as shown in the following screenshot and detailed below. The label print preview at the right of the screen is based on the ZPL code entered.

• Augmentation Scope. Required. You'll designate the augmentation's scope in this step, whether applicable to all carriers and service methods within your fulfillment network, to only selected carriers, or to only selected service methods.
• Label Augmentation Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the label augmentation
• Injection Position. Required. You'll select either Top or Bottom, depending on the desired position for the label printing.
• Shipment Tag to Match. Optional. If you have a shipment tag that you wish to link the label augmentation to, you'll provide it here (e.g., ORDER-ID).
• ZPL. Required. The Zebra Programming Language code is required for a label augmentation. You'll see a print preview to the right of the screen.

Maintain and make changes to an injection site

You can access the fulfillment context's injection site via the Injection tab within the fulfillment context. Each section includes an Edit button that enables editing of the context component.

Definitions

The following table includes terms and descriptions associated with injection shipping within the Shipium platform.

Resources

Your Shipium team member is available to help as you configure injection shipping. However, you might find these resources helpful:

• Common Terms and Definitions
• Troubleshooting Guide
• Contacting Shipium Support