Understanding Questions in MachShip

Understanding Questions in MachShip

Questions are the yes/no (and multiple-choice) data points MachShip collects about a shipment - things like whether a delivery is residential, whether a hydraulic tailgate is needed, or whether a timeslot has been booked.

Once a Question has been answered on a consignment, that answer is stored against the shipment and becomes available as a condition inside the IF Conditions builder used by Shipping Rules, Surcharge Rules, and Shipping Modifiers. This article explains what Questions are, lists the commonly used Questions available in MachShip, and covers how to use them when building or editing a rule.

For users to access this feature, make sure the relevant permission set is enabled for the user role - Manage Shipping Rules for Shipping Rules, and the corresponding permission for Surcharge Rules or Shipping Modifiers. Questions themselves don't have a separate permission; access follows whichever rule type you're editing.

What is a Question?

Every Question in MachShip has five parts:

  • Question ID - the unique number assigned to the Question (e.g. 13)
  • Question - the plain-language question being asked (e.g. Is this a residential delivery?)
  • Description - a short explanation of what the question means or when it applies
  • Answer - the label shown for the response once it's answered
  • Abbreviation / Question Code - the short code used to reference the Question (e.g. RESIDENTIAL)

The table below shows all five fields for reference, so you can see exactly what each Question means and how it's labelled. However, when it comes to actually setting an IF Condition in a Shipping Rule, Surcharge Rule, or Shipping Modifier, only two of these fields are usable: Question ID and Question Code. The Question text, Description and Answer are there to help you identify the right Question - they aren't selectable fields within the condition builder itself.

Questions are answered on a booking or consignment - either by a customer at the time of booking, or by a team member during processing.

Note: On the booking screen, the tick boxes at the top of the page (e.g. Hydraulic Tailgate required, Crane Truck required, Is this a residential delivery?, Is the carrier authorised to leave?) are the global Questions covered in this article, and it's these that correspond to the Question IDs and Question Codes in the table below.



Further down the booking screen, once a carrier/service has been selected, you may also see a separate set of fields under a heading like "[Carrier Name] Specific Options" - for example Sender Tail Gate, Receiver Hand Unload, Residential Pickup, Residential Delivery, Loscam Pallets. These are Carrier Specific flags, not Questions. They're configured by and specific to that carrier's integration, and they are not linked to a Question ID or Question Code, so they can't be referenced in the Question condition of a Shipping Rule, Surcharge Rule, or Shipping Modifier. Some carrier-specific flags happen to mirror a Question by name (e.g. Residential Delivery), but they're a separate data point behind the scenes - don't assume the two are interchangeable when building rules.

Commonly Used Questions in MachShip

Question ID

Question

Description

Answer

Question Code

13

Is this a residential delivery?

Is the delivery address a residential address?

Residential Delivery

RESIDENTIAL

14

Is the carrier authorised to leave?

Can the carrier leave the goods at the premises if there is nobody there?

Authorised to Leave

ATL

31

Crane Truck required

Tick this option to show Crane Truck options

Crane Only

CRANE

32

Hydraulic Tailgate required

Tick this option to show only services for which a Hydraulic Tailgate is available

Hydraulic Tailgate

HYDRAULIC

36

Hand Unload

Does the delivery require a hand unload?

Hand Unload

HAND

46

Is Delivery a PO Box?

Is the delivery location a PO box?

PO Box

POBOX

56

Is this a residential pickup?

Is the pickup address a residential address?

Residential Pickup

RESIDENTIALPICKUP

57

Hand Load

Does the pickup require a hand load?

Hand Load

HANDLOAD

58

Book In Required

Does this freight require a Book In?

Book In Required

BOOKIN

60

Hydraulic Tailgate Pickup

Does this pickup require a Tailgate pickup?

Hydraulic Tailgate Pickup Required

TAILPICK

80

Hydraulic Tailgate Delivery

-

Hydraulic Delivery

HYDRAULDEL

85

Time Slot Booking Required

Timeslot booking request

Timeslot booking

TIMESLOTBOOKING

148

Phone Ahead

Phone Ahead

Phone Ahead

PHONEAHEAD

150

Timeslot has been Booked

Timeslot is booked

Booked Timeslot

BOOKEDTIMESLOT

234

Time Slot Delivery Required

Time Slot Delivery is Required

Timeslot Delivery Required

TIMESLOTDEL

316

Is Required to Call Before Collection?

-

Is Required to Call Before Collection?

CALL BEFORE COLLECTION?

317

Is Required to Call Before Delivery?

-

Is Required to Call Before Delivery?

CALL BEFORE DELIVERY?

If there's a Question you'd like to use as a condition isn't listed above, please reach out to our Support team . The team can create a new Question if needed and provide the relevant Question ID and Question Code.  

Why Questions matter for Shipping Rules, Surcharge Rules, and Shipping Modifiers

Shipping Rules, Surcharge Rules, and Shipping Modifiers are all built the same way: an IF Condition decides when the rule should apply, and a THEN Action decides what happens when it does. Question is one of the collections available in the IF Conditions builder, alongside options like Item, Route, Carrier Service Type, and Carrier Zone.

Using Question as a condition means your rule reacts to the specific circumstances of the shipment, not just the freight itself. This is what lets a rule apply a surcharge, restrict a service, exclude a carrier, or adjust what's shown to a customer (like transit time or cut-off) based on things like:

  • Whether the delivery is residential
  • Whether a hydraulic tailgate has been requested
  • Whether a timeslot has already been booked
  • Whether the carrier needs to phone ahead

The IF/THEN structure

  • IF Conditions - the trigger. Define what needs to be true about the shipment for the rule to apply. You can match on Any or All of the conditions you add, and combine multiple collections (Question, Item, Route, Carrier Service Type, and so on) within the same rule.
  • THEN Action - the outcome. For Shipping Rules, this most commonly controls which carriers are shown - for example, "All carriers will be available except for: [carrier]". For Surcharge Rules, this defines the surcharge price to be applied when the rule matches. For Shipping Modifiers, this adjusts what's shown to the customer - such as transit times, booking cut-off times, or shipping item dimensions - without changing the carrier's actual committed service. You can add one or more actions under Add Action.

In plain terms: the IF side decides when the rule fires, and the THEN side decides what happens when it does.

How to add a Question condition

  1. Open the rule you're creating or editing (Shipping Rule, Surcharge Rule, or Shipping Modifier).
  2. Under IF Conditions, select Add Condition.
  3. From the collection dropdown, choose Question.
  4. In the Field dropdown, choose how you want to reference the Question:
    • Question Id - reference the Question by its numeric ID (e.g. 13 for Is this a residential delivery?)
    • Question Code - reference the Question by its abbreviation (e.g. RESIDENTIAL)
  5. Enter or select the matching value, then set the rest of the condition (operator and the answer that should trigger the rule).

Either field works - Question Code is usually easier to read at a glance, since it matches the abbreviations in the table above, while Question ID is useful if you're matching against an export or another system that references Questions numerically.

Worked example: excluding a carrier based on a Question

Say you want to stop a particular carrier being offered whenever a Crane Truck is required. In a Shipping Rule, this would look like:

  • IF Conditions: Any of the following is true:
    • Question Code CRANE, answered yes
  • THEN Action: All carriers will be available except for: [the carrier that can't handle Crane Truck deliveries]

Once saved, MachShip checks every new shipment against this rule automatically. Any consignment where CRANE has been answered yes will have that carrier excluded from the available service list - no manual review needed.

The same structure works for other Questions. For example, to stop a carrier being offered on residential deliveries, you'd swap the condition to Question Code RESIDENTIAL, answered yes, and set the same except for action. The same Question condition works the same way in a Surcharge Rule (swap the THEN Action for a surcharge price) or a Shipping Modifier (swap the THEN Action for an adjustment to transit time, cut-off, or another customer-facing detail).

Because a rule can combine multiple IF Conditions (using Any or All), you can also build more targeted rules - for example, excluding a carrier only when both RESIDENTIAL and HYDRAULIC are answered yes.

Because Questions are answered at the point of booking, rules built on them respond automatically as each shipment is created - there's no need to manually flag exceptions or adjust rules on a case-by-case basis.

  • How to Create a Shipping Rule for Carrier Selection

    Users may choose which carriers or carrier services are offered for selection based on rules or conditions set at the company level, including rules built on Question conditions as covered above.

  • How to Create Surcharge Rules

    The Surcharge Rules feature allows customers to create, activate, amend and deactivate their own surcharges - including surcharges triggered by Question conditions such as Hydraulic Tailgate or Residential Delivery.

  • Creating Shipping Modifier Rules

    Shipping Modifiers let you customise what your customers see - transit times, booking cut-off times, destination rules, shipping item dimensions, and more - including modifiers triggered by Question conditions.

As always, if you need help or have any queries regarding this, please reach out to our Support team.