Freight Types

Freight Types define the freight terms that will be used for both Purchase Orders and Sales Orders in Deacom. The purpose of these terms is to identify the party responsible for the payment of freight costs. In Deacom, customer and vendor records are assigned a Freight Type that acts as the default during order entry. During installation Deacom initially populates the freight types list with the following choices, but additional records may be added as desired:

  • Collect – Buyer pays freight charges.
  • Prepaid – Vendor pays freight charges.
  • Prepaid and Add – Vendor pays freight charges and adds to invoice.

For Purchase Orders, freight costs are posted to the Freight Account at standard cost regardless of the inventory costing method set in Accounting > Options > Costing tab. The Freight Account for a purchased item is defined in the "Standard Freight" field of the Item Master Accounts tab. This is not to be confused with the freight cost from the Item Master Costs tab, which is the freight cost for a Stock Pricing Unit of the item and is added to the total cost of the item upon receipt.

For Sales Orders, freight costs are added during order entry or upon shipment, depending on when the details of the freight costs are known. 

System Navigation

  • Purchasing > Maintenance > Freight Types

Edit Freight Type form

Opened via the "New" and "Modify" buttons on the Freight Types form.

General tab

Field/Flag

Description

Name

Displays the name/description of the Freight Type.

AR/AP

Pick list used to determine where the Freight Type may be used. Options are:

  • Accounts Payable (Purchasing) - Only visible when managing Vendors and entering Purchase Orders.
  • Accounts Receivable (Sales) - Only visible when managing Bill-to and Ship-to Companies and entering Sales Orders.
  • Both - Visible during all AP and AR transactions.

Active

If checked, the record is active. Only active records may be used in the system.

AR Default

If checked, the record is the default when adding a new Bill-to Company.

AP Default

If checked, the record is the default when adding a new Vendor.

Retain Ownership While In Transit

If checked, the shipper will retain ownership of materials until the order is received by the customer.

  • Sales Orders using a Freight Type flagged with Retain Ownership will be treated as Inter-Company Transfers.

EasyPost (requires Freight API license)

Pick list used to determine if, and when, this Freight Type will be used with the EasyPost API integration when adding freight charges to sales orders. Options are:

  • None - EasyPost integration will not be used for this Freight Type. Note: The "EasyPost Signature Required" field will be unchecked and disabled.
  • Order Entry - Users will be prompted to select the EasyPost shipping method during order entry when using this Freight Type.
  • Shipping - Users will be prompted to select the EasyPost shipping method during order shipment when using this Freight Type.
  • Both - Users will be prompted for the EasyPost shipping method during order entry, and again during order shipment.
  • Fastest Delivery - Selecting this option will automatically choose the EasyPost rate with the least number of days for delivery.
  • Lowest Cost - Selecting this option will choose the rate with the cheapest rate.
  • Expression - Selecting this option will allow the user to enter an EasyPost Expression that will evaluate which rate to choose.  For example: IIF(uc_package_type = ‘Poly’, ‘USPS|Priority’, ‘USPS|Standard’)

Notes:

  • Once this field is set to Order Entry or Shipping, the AR/AP field above is set to AR and then that field is disabled.
  • Complete information on the EasyPost integration is available via the Using EasyPost page.
  • If the Facility is using a Facility-Specific EasyPost API Key, that one will take priority.
  • This field is a check box only. If checked, then users will be prompted for the shipping method during order entry and again during order shipment. When this box is checked, the system will set the pick list above to "Both". If this box is unchecked, the pick list will be set to "None".

EasyPost Signature Required (requires Freight API license)

Option to indicate that a signature is required when using the EasyPost API. If this box is checked, the system will indicate on the shipping label that a signature is required. If this box is unchecked, the system will indicate that no signature is required.

EasyPost Expression (requires Freight API license)

Option to specify an expression that can be used to automatically set the Ship Via Method, for EasyPost, on the sales order. The expression in this field is evaluated when the sales order is saved. This field was added in version 17.00.005.

  • If the expression returns a valid service provider and service type, the user will not be prompted to select a shipping method during order entry. The system will set the Ship Via Method and set the value in the EasyPost Rate ID field on the sales order.
  • Only available when "Expression" is selected in the EasyPost field above.
  • The expression should be evaluated after user calculations have completed. The expression should return the service provider and service level separated by a pipe bar '|'. Sample expressions are indicated below:
    • 'USPS|First'
    • 'USPS|Priority'
    • 'FedEx|FEDEX_GROUND'
    • 'FedEx|STANDARD_OVERNIGHT'
    • 'UPS|Ground'
    • 'UPS|2ndDayAir'
  • Note: When using this expression option, the system will generate a label from EasyPost for the selected option by automatically creating a new package for the order. The system will set the package weight to the sales order's weight (to_totwgt) and then attach the label to the sales order as an attached document, with the picture description (dmpict.pi_descrip value) that is currently used when generating EasyPost labels from the main application.
  • This functionality works in both Sales Order entry and when importing EDI.
  • Link to EasyPost service providers: https://www.easypost.com/carriers
  • Link to EasyPost service levels: (drop down to select provider) -  https://docs.easypost.com/docs/shipments/rates

EasyPost Email Notification (requires Freight API license)

If checked, and the "Email" field (bi_email) on the General tab of the Bill-To company contains a valid email address, customers will receive an email notification when shipping an order using EasyPost.

  • Only available when the EasyPost field above is set to a value besides None.

  • Note: The functionality in this field only works when used in conjunction with an existing API endpoint in Deacom that follows the webhook guide for EasyPost. See EasyPost Webhook Guide for more information.

  • This field was added in version 17.00.005.

EasyPost SMS Notification (requires Freight API license)

If checked, and the "Email" field (bi_email) on the General tab of the Bill-To company contains a valid email address, customers will receive an SMS notification when shipping an order using EasyPost.

  • Only available when the EasyPost field above is set to a value besides None.

  • Note: The functionality in this field only works when used in conjunction with an existing API endpoint in Deacom that follows the webhook guide for EasyPost. See EasyPost Webhook Guide for more information.

  • This field was added in version 17.00.005.

User Fields tab

User Fields provide companies with a useful tool to add additional information or selection options via the use of list boxes to master data records and orders throughout the Deacom system. The information entered in User Fields is also available for printing on many of the printouts and labels throughout the system. User Fields must first be created before they will be visible on this tab.