When to Use Accumulative Pricing (Progressive/Tiered Rate Structure)
Accumulative pricing is used when your carrier applies different rates for different weight tiers. This means the rate per kg changes based on the total weight of the consignment.
Example: A carrier charges $0.25/kg for 0-100kg and $0.22/kg for 101+kg. For a 176kg shipment, the first 100kg is charged at $0.25/kg and the remaining 76kg at $0.22/kg. This is accumulative pricing.
How to Identify: Check your carrier's rate card. If it shows multiple rates for different weight ranges or 'weight breaks', use accumulative pricing.
Contrast with Break Pricing: If your carrier's rate card shows a single flat rate per unit with no weight breaks (e.g., always $0.22/kg regardless of volume), use break pricing instead (see 'How to set up a Rate Card for Break Pricing').
Important Note: If your carrier offers multiple account types with different rate structures (some flat, some tiered), create separate services within the same carrier account for each structure type. This allows customers to select the appropriate service based on their account agreement. For example, if a carrier offers both 'Standard' (flat rate) and 'Premium' (tiered) accounts, set up two services: one with break pricing and one with accumulative pricing.
Accumulative pricing involves pricing each kilo, piece, km or cubic metre in its applicable weight, volume, piece or distance break.
For example, if we had the below rates and an 11-kilogram consignment.
| From Zone | To Zone | Basic (inc 5 kg) | 0-5 | 6-10 | 10+ |
| NN1 | VV1 | 15 | 1.50 | 1.25 | 1.00 |
To compare the calculated difference between Accumulative pricing and Break pricing:
| Weight | 1 kg | 2 kg | 3 kg | 4 kg | 5 kg | 6 kg | 7 kg | 8 kg | 9 kg | 10 kg | 11 kg | Total |
| Accumulative | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.00 | 14.75 |
| Break Pricing | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 11.00 |
As can be seen with Accumulative pricing each weight figure is priced as per the break it sits in, and Break rates are priced by finding the break (based on the weight, distance, volume or number of items) and calculating the whole figure based on the price in that break.
Accumulative pricing will need to be utilised when your rate card prices like any of the examples below. The example rate card import file will be shown after the standard Carrier, Account, Service, From Zone, To Zone, Reciprocal and Cubic Conversion fields have been removed.
To understand how to fill these fields please read the article at this link.
Example 1: Weight included in the basic
| From Zone | To Zone | Basic (inc 5 kg) | Per Kilo |
| NN1 | VV1 | 15 | 0.45 |
| NN1 | QQ1 | 15 | 0.65 |
| Basic | Minimum | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price |
| 15 | 0 | WEIGHT | 0 | 5 | 0 | WEIGHT | 6 | 0.45 | |||
| 15 | 0 | WEIGHT | 0 | 5 | 0 | WEIGHT | 6 | 0.65 |
Example 2: Price for set weight amounts
| From Zone | To Zone | 1kg | 3kg | 5kg | 5kg+ (per kilo) |
|
NN1 |
VV1 | 10 | 12 | 17 | 1.5 |
| NN1 | QQ1 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 1.6 |
| Basic | Minimum | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price |
| 10 | 0 | WEIGHT | 0 | 1 | 0 | WEIGHT | 2 | 2 | 2 | WEIGHT | 3 | 3 | 0 | WEIGHT | 4 | 4 | 5 | WEIGHT | 5 | 5 | 0 | WEIGHT | 6 | 1.5 | |||||||
| 10 | 0 | WEIGHT | 0 | 1 | 0 | WEIGHT | 2 | 2 | 5 | WEIGHT | 3 | 3 | 0 | WEIGHT | 4 | 4 | 4 | WEIGHT | 5 | 5 | 0 | WEIGHT | 6 | 1.6 |
In the example above you will need to understand how the accumulative pricing works and that if you send for example 2 kilos of freight, you will be charged the full 3-kilo price - it is the 2nd kilo which actually causes the price increase and not the 3rd kilo.
Example 3: Price per Item
| From Zone | To Zone | First Pallet/Carton | 2nd Pallet/Carton | 3rd Pallet / Carton + |
|
NN1 |
VV1 | 25 | 20 | 14 |
| NN1 | QQ1 | 35 | 29 | 15 |
| Basic | Minimum | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price |
| 0 | 0 | PIECES | PAL | 1 | 1 | 25 | PIECES | PAL | 2 | 2 | 20 | PIECES | PAL | 3 | 14 | PIECES | CTN | 1 | 1 | 25 | PIECES | CTN | 2 | 2 | 20 | PIECES | CTN | 3 | 14 | ||
| 0 | 0 | PIECES | PAL | 1 | 1 | 35 | PIECES | PAL | 2 | 2 | 29 | PIECES | PAL | 3 | 15 | PIECES | CTN | 1 | 1 | 35 | PIECES | CTN | 2 | 2 | 29 | PIECES | CTN | 3 | 15 |
In the instance above the abbreviation for the carrier item type is PAL (pallet) and CTN (carton).
Example 4: Set Price per Weight Amount
| From Zone | To Zone | Per 25 Kilo |
| NN1 | VV1 | $10.82 |
| NN1 | QQ1 | $7.65 |
| Basic | Minimum | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price |
| 10.82 | 0 | WEIGHT | 0 | 25 | 0 | WEIGHT | 26 | 26 | 10.82 | WEIGHT | 27 | 50 | 0 | WEIGHT | 51 | 51 | 10.82 | WEIGHT | 52 | 75 | 0 | |||||
| 7.65 | 0 | WEIGHT | 0 | 25 | 0 | WEIGHT | 26 | 26 | 7.65 | WEIGHT | 27 | 50 | 0 | WEIGHT | 51 | 51 | 7.65 | WEIGHT | 52 | 75 | 0 |
Example 5: Price per chunk - Distance
| From Zone | To Zone | 15km | 30km | 50km |
|
NN1 |
VV1 | 30 | 60 | 90 |
| NN1 | QQ1 | 50 | 120 | 190 |
| Basic | Minimum | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price | Break Type | Item Type | Break From | Break To | Price |
| 30 | 0 | DISTANCE | 0 | 15 | 0 | DISTANCE | 16 | 16 | 30 | DISTANCE | 17 | 30 | 0 | DISTANCE | 31 | 31 | 30 | DISTANCE | 32 | 50 | 0 | |||||
| 50 | 0 | DISTANCE | 0 | 15 | 0 | DISTANCE | 16 | 16 | 70 | DISTANCE | 17 | 30 | 0 | DISTANCE | 31 | 31 | 70 | DISTANCE | 32 | 50 | 0 |
If there is any confusion on the above, or how your rate card should be put together please contact support@machship.com