About injection

Injection shipping is the use of an additional mode of transportation, typically long-haul truck, to pick up shipments from a fulfillment center (FC) and transport them to an alternative injection point for delivery by the carrier.

Your organization can use injection shipping to:

• lower shipping costs by injecting a package closer to its final destination;
• increase delivery speed by injecting a shipment closer to its final destination; and
• increase carrier capacity by adding an alternative node in the supply chain delivery process to deliver more packages.

How injection zone mapping works

For any given shipping carrier, the zip code zone mapping is always a one-to-one relationship. A specific origin and a specific destination postal code will only ever resolve to a single zone.

Even if your physical origins have complex routing where packages go to different local hubs, the zone mapping in Shipium is always configured based on the single postal code where the carrier takes possession of the shipment.

Fulfillment contexts

In order to use Shipium’s APIs, your organization needs to establish your fulfillment network configurations within the Shipium platform. We refer to these configurations as Fulfillment Contexts. A fulfillment context allows you to configure the characteristics for your network origins, carrier contracts, label augmentations, third party billing, injection shipping, and tenants, in addition to other feature settings. Injection shipping is optional but can be established for a fulfillment context.

Configure injection shipping

In order to configure injection for a fulfillment context, you'll need to access Fulfillment Contexts in the Configure section of the Shipium Console. These instructions assume you've already established a fulfillment context in the Shipium platform. If you haven't yet set up a fulfillment context, you can find guidance for how to do so in the fulfillment contexts documentation.

To locate the fulfillment context for which you wish to configure injection shipping, you can use the search bar at the top of the Fulfillment Contexts homepage or simply scroll through a list of the available contexts. Once you've located the desired context, you can access it by clicking on its name.

Within the Injection tab of the context, you can add an injection site by selecting the Add Injection Site button within the message that there are no injection sites associated with the fulfillment context or by selecting Add an Injection Site from the dropdown menu at the right of the screen.

To create an injection site, you'll provide details to be associated with it:

• Carrier. Required. You'll select the desired carrier for the injection site from a dropdown menu.
• Site Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the injection site.
• Time in Transit Days. Required. The additional transit time in number of days that your organization expects for shipments going through the injection site.
• Rate Modifier. Optional. This is the numerical value of a rate modifier your organization might use for this injection site. It is expressed as either a percentage or a fixed rate.
• Rate Modifier Type. Optional. You’ll select from a dropdown menu of two choices: Percentage or Fixed.
• Injection Site Contact. Required. Once you select the Choose Contact button, you’ll have a choice to select an existing contact or create a new one.
• Injection Site Address. Required. Once you select the Choose Address button, you’ll have a choice to select an existing address or create a new one.
• Limit Destinations. Optional. If toggled on, you’ll be prompted to provide postal codes for destination addresses to which this injection site ships. You’ll download a CSV file for uploading the applicable postal codes.

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Carrier contract required for injection site

Even if you have carrier contracts configured for a fulfillment context, you must add a carrier contract for each injection site.

Add a carrier contract to an injection site

To be used, an injection site must have at least one carrier contract associated with it. Once the injection site is created, you must add a carrier contract. This process is the same as setting up a carrier contract for a fulfillment context.

You can create a new contract or select an existing one.

To create a carrier contract, you'll provide details to be associated with it:

• Carrier. Required. You'll select the desired carrier from a dropdown menu.
• Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the contract.
• Unique Identifier. Optional. An optional field that can help you more easily reference the fulfillment context in calls to Shipium's APIs; this unique ID is case sensitive.
• Description. Optional. An optional description to help you organize your organization's carrier contracts.

Next, you'll need to establish carrier settings.

Add carrier settings to an injection site

Once you configure a carrier contract for the injection site, you'll set up the carrier settings. You can select existing carrier settings or create new ones.

To create a new Carrier Settings configuration, you'll provide details to be associated with it:

• Carrier Settings Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the carrier settings configuration.
• Carrier. Required. You'll select the desired carrier from a list of available carriers in a dropdown menu.
• Peak Surcharge Eligible. Required. You'll select a value of either True or False from a dropdown menu, depending on the eligibility of the carrier settings configuration for peak surcharges.
• Allow Label Failover. Required. You’ll select True to allow failover or False to not allow failover from the dropdown menu. In the case of a carrier label API failure, Shipium can either not generate the label or use the next best carrier.
• Expected Shipping Volume Overage Percentage. Optional. If your organization has volume-tiered peak surcharges, this number represents the percentage difference between average daily volume versus holiday volume.
• Hazmat Limited Quantity Exempt. Required. You'll select a value of either True or False from a dropdown menu, depending on the hazmat limited quantity exemption eligibility of the carrier settings configuration.

Next, you'll need to establish a carrier account.

Add a carrier account to an injection site

Once you configure a carrier contract and carrier settings for the injection site, you'll set up the carrier account. You can select an existing carrier account or create a new one.

To create a new Carrier Account, you'll provide details to be associated with it:

• Carrier Account Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the carrier account.
• Description. Optional. An optional description your organization can use to help you organize your carrier accounts.
• Cost Center. Optional. A cost center identifier can be used for categorizing expenses.
• International Shipping. Optional. If you're using the carrier account for international shipping, you''ll select Yes from the dropdown menu.
• Return To Address. Optional. A return to address is the address where a package will be returned, if undeliverable for any reason.
• Return To Contact. Optional. A return to contact is the point of contact regarding shipment returns.
• Credentials. Required. You'll select the desired carrier credentials from the list of available carrier credentials in a dropdown menu.

Next, you'll need to establish carrier rates.

Add carrier rates to an injection site

You can establish rates and surcharges your organization has for the carrier contract for an injection site in the fulfillment context. You must have your carrier account configured before you're allowed to enter carrier rates.

To create a new carrier rate, you'll provide details to be associated with it:

Details

• Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the carrier rate.
• Description. Optional. An optional description your organization can use to help you organize your carrier rates.
• Carrier Service Method. Required. You'll select the desired service method for the applicable carrier from a dropdown menu.
• Allowed Destination Type. Required. You'll select All, Commercial, or Residential as the type of destination address allowed from a dropdown menu.
• Currency. Required. You'll select your desired currency from the dropdown menu.

Dimensional weight configuration

• Dimensional Weight Volume Threshold. Optional. You may have a custom dimensional weight volume threshold for the applicable carrier service method.
• Dimensional Weight Volume Discount Factors. Optional. You can add volume discount factors according to packaging material.
• Dimensional Weight Calculation Type. Optional, but required if configuring a dimensional weight volume threshold. You can choose between normal (single) and tiered divisors.
• Negotiated Dimensional Weight Divisor. Optional. This value is a number set by the carrier that represents cubic inches per pound.
• Tiered Dimensional Weight Divisors. Optional. You can add multiple ranges for which a divisor should apply.

Rate table entries

Once you have rate table entries configured, you'll see a listing of them in the Rate Table Entries section.

• Rate Table Start Date. Required. You'll select the date on which you wish the carrier rate to start applying.
• Rate Table End Date. Required. You'll select the date on which you wish the carrier rate to stop applying.
• Rating Type. Choices for the type of rating are determined by the carrier service method you selected in the previous step.
• Negotiated Surcharge Overrides. Optional. When creating a rate, you may also elect to enter any surcharge overrides your organization has negotiated with the carrier applicable to the service method for which you're creating the rate.

Rate sheet configuration

Three types of rate sheets can be configured:

1. Standard rate sheets may be uploaded for any supported carrier.
2. Remote rate sheets may be added for specific service methods.
3. Multiparcel rate sheets may be added for carrier Nationex.

Other optional rate sheet configurations

You can configure a Rate Per Weight Unit for packages that exceed the weight threshold for the rate table. Similarly, you can enter Minimum Over Weight Rate by zone for packages that exceed the size threshold.

Add carrier schedules to an injection site

Once you've established an injection site, you can add carrier schedules to it via the Origins tab within Fulfillment Contexts.

In the Origins tab, you'll find Carrier Schedules, where you can edit an existing schedule or add a new one.

Manifest shipments from an injection site

Once you've configured an injection site and created shipments routed through it, you can manifest those shipments to provide carrier confirmation of package retrieval from the injection site location.

How manifesting works for injection sites

Shipments routed through an injection site are stored with the injection site's postal code. You can manifest injection site shipments through:

• Scheduled manifesting.
• Manual manifesting.

For detailed instructions on setting up and managing manifests, see Manifest Shipments.

Test contract configuration

Once you've configured an injection site's carrier contract, you can test the configuration using the Test Injection Configuration button. The testing tool generates a generic Carrier Selection or Label Service request.

Add label augmentations to an injection site

Any desired label augmentations for the injection site must be added separately, even if the augmentations are already included in the fulfillment context.

You can add label augmentations by selecting the Add button within the Label Augmentations section of the Injection tab. Label augmentations refer to any special printer instructions to be applied when generating a label.

To create a label augmentation, you'll provide details to be associated with it:

• Augmentation Scope. Required. You'll designate the augmentation's scope.
• Label Augmentation Name. Required. A human-readable name your organization will use to refer to the label augmentation.
• Injection Position. Required. You'll select either Top or Bottom, depending on the desired position for the label printing.
• ZPL. Required. The Zebra Programming Language code is required for a label augmentation.

Definitions

The following table includes terms and descriptions associated with injection shipping within the Shipium platform.

Resources

Your Shipium team member is available to help along the way. However, you might find these resources helpful:

• Terms and Definitions
• Troubleshooting Guide