How to Attach More Than One Surcharge Chart to a Customer Record

Owned by Michelle Cabaya
Last updated: Aug 23, 2023
3 min read

You can set up a customer record to use more than one surcharge chart. This can be useful in situations where you may only want to use a surcharge rate for a specific time period and do not want to worry about changing surcharge calculation rates back after the specific time period ends. For example, holidays, severe weather, or surge rates for heavy traffic times. It can also be used when a customer's primary surcharge rate chart includes standard surcharges, such as fuel, and a secondary chart is assigned for non-standard surcharges. The primary surcharge chart may be specific to the customer, but the secondary chart may be more general for several or most customers. This configuration allows for easier and faster surcharge updates for customers and allows a single chart (or group of charts) to be applied to multiple customers for a more streamlined rate chart structure.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Create the surcharge rate chart(s) that you would like to use. See Surcharge Rate Charts - New / Edit Surcharge Rate Chart.

  2. Go to Maintenance > Customers.

  3. Select the customer you would like to attach the surcharge chart(s) to by searching and double-clicking on the row.

  4. Go to the Accounting tab.

  5. Under Rate Charts, click the arrow down to select Surcharge.

  6. Enter the surcharge chart IDs separated by a comma. For example for surcharge chart 80 and 88, you would enter "80,88".

  7. Click the Save button on the top left.

Example: Severe Weather Surchage

Customers are each assigned to their appropriate rate charts per their rating agreements - the customer we are setting up is assigned to surcharge chart 1 for all standard surcharges.  The customer, and a few other customers, are associated with a secondary surcharge chart for additional surcharges, surcharge chart 3.

Each chart group in Maintenance > Rate Charts has the required order type rate charts.  The secondary chart has all applicable order type rate charts for all customers who may use this configuration so that it can be used with multiple customers.

The primary chart assigned to the customer has an applicable fuel surcharge, which would be applied to the order anytime between 11/16/15 and 11/13/25.  The secondary chart, also assigned to this customer, has an applicable additional surcharge (severe weather) which would be applied to an order anytime between 08/27/18 and 08/28/18.

Placing an order outside of the secondary chart's surcharge item date/time window does not add the additional surcharge.  However, placing an order inside of the secondary chart's date time window adds the severe weather additional surcharge.

If multiple surcharge charts have duplicate item entries (for example, the two assigned surcharge rate charts have configurations for "severe weather", the customer's primary chart configurations will take priority.