Account Type
Note: You need to set up account types only if you track substitute carriers in Circulation or if your newspaper bills multiple accounts for the same draw (e.g., a delivery carrier and an agent).
About Non-Delivery Carriers
Newspapers may work with certain types of carriers/dealers who do not deliver a route regularly, such as agents (independent contractors who manage one or more routes) and trainees. These people may be charged and credited for the same draw as a delivery carrier, although at different rates. For example, if an agent receives a 6% commission on a route, both the delivery carrier and the agent will receive the charges and credits of the route.
If you bill multiple accounts for the same draw, you will need to do the following:
Set up an account type for each category of non-delivery carrier (e.g., agent, substitute, trainee).
Note: You do not need to set up account types for ordinary delivery carriers, even if you bill multiple accounts for the same draw.
Answer “yes” to the Business Rule, Will multiple accounts be billed for the same draw?, in the Account Finance section.
Set up accounts as usual in Account Activation (see the User Manual for more information).
For delivery carriers, set the Delivery Type field to “delivery”.
For non-delivery carriers, set the Delivery Type field to “non-delivery” or “substitute” and also enter the route or routes for which this account should be billed.
You can also enter a district—the non-delivery carrier will be billed for the draw of all the routes in the district. Then, enter the appropriate account type in the Account Type field.
When you set up rates for your accounts, define separate account rules for your non-delivery carriers using account types. You can use these rules to create special rates for your non-delivery carriers/dealers. For example, agents would receive a much lower rate than regular delivery carriers.
When you process account billing, the draw for each route will be charged and/or credited to the delivery carrier and all non-delivery carrier/dealers assigned to the route.
About Substitutes
In addition to delivery and non-delivery carriers, newspapers may also have substitutes. Substitutes deliver newspapers, but they are not the regular carrier for the route that they deliver. When a substitute delivers a route, the regular delivery carrier will be charged for the papers the substitute delivers, but the charges will be reversed (no draw will appear for those days on the carrier’s invoice). The substitute will also be charged, using the delivery carrier’s rate. Some other substitute features are:
The substitute can be given a premium credit for delivering the route, and the regular carrier can be given a penalty charge. This is assigned when the accounts are set up. Charge codes for penalties and premiums are specified in Publication setup.
The substitute will also be credited for inserts, TM products, and renewal notices delivered, and charged for complaints entered on a day that they delivered the route.
More than one substitute carrier can be assigned to deliver a route at the same time. See Specifics, Bill Occupant for more information on multiple substitutes.
While delivering the route, a “substitute” message listing the substitute carrier(s) will be displayed in Customer Service and Route Service.
With the exception of invoices and the billing journal, all reports will still list the regular carrier, even when the substitute is delivering the route.
When setting up substitute carriers in Account Activation (see the User Manual), the Delivery Type field should be set to “substitute”. The start and end date (if known) should correspond with the date range during which the substitute will be delivering the route. You do not need to enter an end date for the regular carrier (the substitute and regular carrier can have overlapping dates).
Defining Account Types
To set up an account type:
Select Distribution | Account Setup | Account Type to display the Account Type screen.
Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.
Field Type What to enter ACCOUNT TYPE
open (8)
Enter an ID for this account type, such as “agent”.
START DATE, END DATE
date
Enter the date range during which this account type will be active. You may leave END DATE blank.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of this account type.
IS SUBSTITUTE
yes/no
Flag this field if this account type is for substitute carriers. If the account type is for non-delivery carriers, set it to “n”.
CAN BILL DRAW
yes/no
Indicate whether carrier/dealers with this account type may be charged (or credited) for draw. Most account types will have this field checked.
CAN BACK CREDIT
yes/no
Indicate whether carrier/dealers with this account type can be given back credits. For example, if an office pay subscriber who is late in paying is switched to carrier collect, but then sends in a payment before the carrier can collect money, delivery back credit is issued to the account.
CAN BILL ADJUSTMENTS
yes/no
Indicate whether carrier/dealers with this account type can be charged or credited for draw adjustments. Draw adjustments are increases or decreases to the draw entered after transaction processing—for example, if a single copy dealer orders more newspapers at the last minute.
IS THIRD PARTY SPONSOR
yes/no
Check this field if this account type is a third-party account type. Account Billing will process and report third-party draw only for accounts of this type.
CAN CREDIT TM
yes/no
Indicate whether carrier/dealers with this account type can be credited for delivering Targeted Marketing products.
CAN CREDIT RETURNS
yes/no
Indicate whether carrier/dealers with this account type can be given credit for returning extra newspapers. Returns are typically entered for dealers.
CAN DROP CREDIT
yes/no
This field is used to identify account types that can be paid on a per-address (i.e., drop) basis rather than account rating basis.
Click OK to save the account type in the database or Add Another to save the existing record and add another account type.
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