A distributed tariff is your selling prices for a lane — what you would quote a customer for a service between a port of loading and a port of discharge — sent to that customer. Tariff distribution lets you define the scope once, per customer and service, and have Freightools send the tariff to your customers on a recurring schedule, so they hold your latest prices without a quotation being built by hand each time. It covers Ocean FCL, Ocean LCL and Air. This article covers what a distribution configuration contains and how to keep customers on your latest tariffs.
It does not cover loading a supplier's rate sheet into Freightools, which is the opposite direction — see How to load rate sheets with AI tariff loading.
Before you start
- Tariff distribution lives in Settings: open your user menu, choose Company Settings, and under Pricing & Distribution in the left-hand navigation open Tariff distributions. The page is titled Tariff Distributions — "Configure automatic or manual distribution of updated rates to customers." See Where to find your user and company settings. If Tariff distributions is not in your navigation, ask your Freightools administrator.
- A distribution sends prices built from what you already hold: your buying agreements and your service mixes. See How to create or edit buying agreements in Freightools and How to configure a service mix.
- The customers who receive a tariff exist as customers in Freightools. See How to create a new customer.
What a distribution configuration contains
Click New Distribution to open Tariff Distribution - Configuration; Save Configuration stores it. Each distribution is one configuration for one customer and one service — its master activity, local charges activity and service mix match the way that service is sold to that customer — so you create one per customer and service, for Ocean FCL, Ocean LCL or Air.
| Section and field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| General Setup — Distribution Name | The name the distribution is listed under. |
| General Setup — Customer (Partner) | The customer who receives the tariff. |
| General Setup — Master Activity | The main freight activity the tariff prices. |
| General Setup — Local Charges Activity | The local charges included with the freight in the tariff. |
| General Setup — Service Mix | The service mix the tariff is sold under, chosen to match the customer. See How to configure a service mix. |
| General Setup — Ready to Load Date | The ready-to-load date the rates are searched for. |
| Route Scope — Port of Loading, Port of Discharge | The ports of loading and ports of discharge the tariff covers. |
| Optional Filters — Suppliers | Optional — limits the tariff to agreements of chosen suppliers. |
| Optional Filters — System Carriers | Optional — limits the tariff to chosen carriers. |
| Default Margin Rules | "Base markup rules applied to all matching rates" — the margin applied on top of the buying prices to produce the selling prices in the tariff. |
| Advanced Overrides | Margin rules that override the default where you set them. |
| Currency | The currency the tariff is sent in. |
| Automation Settings — Send Automatically | "Enable scheduled distribution to customer" — switches the recurring send on. |
The footer of the configuration holds Preview Distribution, Send Test Email and Send to Customer, so you can read the tariff, mail it to yourself and send it by hand before or instead of scheduling it. The Tariff Distributions page lists each distribution with its DISTRIBUTION NAME, CUSTOMER, START DATE, END DATE, DAYS INTERVAL, STATUS and ACTIONS.
Set up a distribution
- On Tariff Distributions, click New Distribution.
- Under General Setup, give the Distribution Name, pick the Customer (Partner), the Master Activity — the freight activity being priced — the Local Charges Activity that goes with it, the Service Mix that matches the customer, and the Ready to Load Date.
- Under Route Scope, set the Port of Loading and Port of Discharge.
- Under Optional Filters, choose Suppliers and System Carriers when the tariff is to be built from some suppliers or carriers only.
- Set the Default Margin Rules, and any Advanced Overrides where one lane or charge needs a different margin, and the Currency.
- Click Preview Distribution to read the tariff, and Send Test Email to see it in your own inbox.
- Under Automation Settings, switch on Send Automatically for a recurring send, or click Send to Customer to send it once by hand. Click Save Configuration.
The same configuration serves Ocean FCL, Ocean LCL and Air; the service follows from the service mix and activities you choose.
Important: The margin rules in the configuration are what turn your buying prices into the selling prices your customers receive. Read the default margin and every override before a distribution runs, the same way you would read the margin on a quotation before sending it — see How to select a customer and check the quotation margin.
Keep customers on your latest tariffs
A distribution with Send Automatically on recurs on the interval shown in its DAYS INTERVAL column, between its START DATE and END DATE. Each run sends the tariff again, so the prices your customers hold follow the agreements and margin rules you have at the time of the run, rather than the prices of the day you first set the distribution up.
If something goes wrong
| You see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Tariff distributions is not in your Settings navigation | Ask your Freightools administrator; what you can open depends on your permissions. |
| A customer holds a tariff for a service mix you did not mean to sell them | Open the distribution and check the Service Mix it names. |
| A lane you expected is missing from a customer's tariff | Check the Route Scope — both the Port of Loading and the Port of Discharge have to be in it — then the Suppliers and System Carriers filters, which drop every agreement outside them. |
| A selling price in a tariff is not the margin you intended | Check the Default Margin Rules and the Advanced Overrides for that lane or charge, and read Preview Distribution before the next run. |
| You want to see the tariff before the customer does | Click Preview Distribution, or Send Test Email to receive it yourself. |