Module
Shipping & Logistics
For every confirmed order the module proposes the cheapest way among your couriers and vehicles, by your rates and costs, with the reason in figures. Along with your couriers' rates and your vehicles' tours, with odometer readings and the cost per shipment.
What the module keeps
One proposal per order, with the reason
For every confirmed order with goods the module works out every route, service by service and vehicle by vehicle, and proposes the cheapest one that fits.
The reason sits next to it in figures, for example “Courier is cheaper: our vehicle would drive 136 km there and back, saving €91.03”.
When courier and own vehicle differ by less than the percentage margin you set, it says “similar cost” and the choice stays with you.
Every option with cost, days and reason
A click on the proposal shows every option with cost, delivery days and cost items.
Where a route does not fit, the reason is written
- weight over the limit
- no rate
- the order has no weight
- arrives after the promised date
- exceeds the vehicle's payload
An item is never split into parcels: if it weighs more than a service's maximum per parcel, that service is left out.
Your couriers' rates, with their validity
For each service a zone (Germany, European Union, World), the maximum weight per parcel and the delivery days, and the prices as weight brackets valid for a period.
A price list that applies from January can be entered in December: the current period ends the day before.
Surcharges as a percentage, per parcel or per shipment, each with its own period, and for every courier a price check for weight, parcels, country and date.
Your own vehicles with their full costs
The kilometres (there and back by default) with consumption per 100 km and the fuel or energy price, plus the vehicle's cost per kilometre without fuel and the driver's hours times their hourly cost.
Consumption, the last fuel price and the cost per kilometre are suggested by the Fleet module; you keep them or enter your own.
The distance comes from the road routing service, and an estimate as the crow flies is marked as such.
Ship one order or many in one run
“Ship” takes the proposal, “Ship with this one” another option.
Several ticked orders go out one after the other, each row shows its result, and “Stop” halts the run.
When shipping, the price is recalculated: today's rate counts, not the figure on a screen left open since yesterday.
Every decision stays on record
Each shipment sent from “To ship” shows the proposal, the chosen option and the difference, for example “€12.40 more than the proposal”, and who decided when.
With your own vehicle, a link leads to the tour.
Tours with the odometer
A tour starts with the odometer at departure and closes with the one on arrival; without odometer readings the calculated kilometres count.
The reading is added to the vehicle's readings in the Fleet module, the tour's cost is spread over the shipments by kilometres, and the shipments are marked delivered.
An odometer below the last reading is refused, naming the reading that stops it.
Corrections after closing require a reason and stay visible in the tour.
The shipping day on one page
The module's first page shows five figures
- orders ready to ship
- shipments on the road
- stuck shipments (on the road for more than seven days or still not departed more than three days after the planned departure)
- the month's freight
- the deliveries on time over the last 90 days
Below, the day's tours and the first orders with their proposal.
Drivers' hourly costs only for those allowed
A driver's hourly cost is pay data.
Whoever may not see it sees the total for own vehicles, not the items, and does not assign drivers to tours.
Permissions are set per role.
How the work runs
- Set up once: starting point, drivers' hourly cost, average speed and minutes per stop. For each vehicle consumption and cost per kilometre, with the Fleet values as a suggestion.
- Enter the couriers with their services, weight brackets and surcharges, as they stand in your price list.
- An order is confirmed and appears under “To ship”, with proposal, cost and reason.
- Ship: the shipment is created from the order, by courier or vehicle, and the decision is recorded.
- With your own vehicle: start the tour and close it on return, with the odometer or the calculated kilometres. Kilometres, cost and delivery are then on the vehicle and the shipment.
- At month end: the tours with kilometres and costs as CSV or PDF, and the cost per delivery on the page.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the module get the couriers' prices?
From the rates you enter: services, weight brackets, surcharges and validity period, as they stand in the agreement with your courier. The module does not guess list prices: without a rate a service stays out of the proposal with the reason “no rate”.
How is the cost of a tour with your own vehicle worked out?
Kilometres times consumption per 100 km, divided by 100, times the fuel or energy price, plus kilometres times the vehicle's cost per kilometre, plus the driver's hours times their hourly cost. The module estimates the hours from distance, average speed and minutes per stop; when departure and return are recorded, the actual hours count.
Does the proposal take the delivery date into account?
Yes. If the order has a delivery date, every option that arrives later is left out, with the reason “arrives after the promised date”.
Do I need the Fleet module?
To ship with your own vehicles, yes: vehicles, drivers, consumption and odometer readings come from the Fleet module. If you only ship by courier, you do not need it. Orders and shipments come from Sales in any case.
What happens if I cancel the module?
Sales works as before: Shipments and Couriers open in Sales again, and shipments are delivered from there. Tours, rates and decisions stay saved and come back when you book the module again. Close open tours first: otherwise their kilometres do not reach the vehicle.
What does this module cost?
€29 a month, flat per company, annually €23.20 a month.
The other modules
There is a page for this industry too: Retail