Mixed orders and how cost is allocated

An order often holds several products, each with its own markup. The carrier charges one price for the consignment, so Forensik has to decide how much of that cost belongs to each product. It does this by rated weight.

One consignment, several SKUs

1. Forensik rates the whole consignment on the carrier's rate card: base charge, fuel levy and any expected accessorials, ex GST.
2. It works out the rated weight of each order line: the rated weight of its cartons, times the quantity.
3. It splits the consignment cost across the lines in proportion to their rated weight. The split is done in whole cents, and any cents left over go to the lines with the largest remainders, so the shares always add back to the consignment cost exactly.
4. Each line's share is marked up at that line's own rule: its SKU markup, postcode markup, category markup or the global markup.
5. The consignment's price is the sum of the line prices. GST is added separately when your organisation is GST registered.

An example

A consignment costs $40.00 ex GST. It carries a 30 kg rated item with a 20% markup and a 10 kg rated item with a 50% markup.

• The first line carries 75% of the rated weight, so its share is $30.00 and its price $36.00.
• The second line carries 25%, so its share is $10.00 and its price $15.00.
• The consignment price is $51.00 ex GST.

A line on free freight is priced at $0 and its share is recorded as absorbed. The other lines are priced as normal.

One order, several consignments

When an order ships on more than one consignment, what the customer was charged for the order is split across those consignments by the rated weight of the order's packages on each, again in whole cents. If none of the order's packages are on any of them, the charge is split equally. This lets each consignment show what was charged, what it cost and what it made.

What is stored

Each line's allocation is kept with the consignment: the method (rated weight), the quantity, the line's rated weight and the consignment's, the share, the cost allocated, the markup rule version and percentage applied, whether it was free freight, the price and any amount absorbed. Stored allocations are never edited.

You can see them on each consignment, in the table of SKU lines with Share, Cost, Markup and Price. Test a quote shows the same working under Show working before an order exists.

When the price is fixed

A line's price uses the rates and markup in force when it was quoted at checkout, or on the ship date when there was no checkout quote. Once posted, a price never changes. If a rate card is later approved back to an earlier date, the expected cost is re-worked, but the price your customer saw stays as it was. See Margin rollups for how these figures add up across SKUs, postcodes and carriers.