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AIMS360 rates a parcel across your own UPS, FedEx, USPS and consolidator accounts, shows price and arrival date side by side, and prints the label from the same screen. Tracking and freight land back on the pick ticket and invoice.
Shipping Labels & Rate Comparison
AIMS360 rates a parcel across your carrier accounts and shows you what each option costs and when it lands, then prints the label from the same screen. No exporting to a shipping app, no rekeying an address, no reconciling two systems afterwards. The order, the carton, the rate, the label and the tracking number are all the same record.
You connect your own carrier accounts to the ERP, and the ERP asks each of them what this specific parcel would cost and when it would arrive. You pick a line, and the label prints against that account. In AIMS360 the carriers connect over their own APIs, so the rates that come back are the rates on your contracts rather than a reseller's published table.
The difference from a standalone shipping app is not the rating. It is everything either side of it. The ERP already knows the order, the customer, the ship-to, the carton contents and the declared value, so nothing is re-entered. And when the label prints, the tracking number and the actual freight charge land back on the pick ticket and the invoice without a sync.
A list of what each configured service would charge for this parcel, to this address, with the arrival date next to the price. You choose a line. That choice sets the freight on the shipment and the account the label bills to.
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Carrier and service | UPS Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, USPS Priority, and so on, drawn from the services you have configured. Only services you actually have are quoted. |
| Price | What that service costs for this parcel on your account, including the surcharges that attach to this address and this box rather than a base rate you then have to adjust in your head. |
| Arrival date | When it lands. This is the column that changes decisions. The cheapest line is often not the one you want once you can see that it arrives four days later than the line above it. |
| Account | Which of your carrier accounts the rate came from, and therefore which account the label will bill. |
Most shipping tools rate at one moment, which is when the parcel is ready to go. Because AIMS360 is the ERP, freight can be calculated much earlier in the order's life.
Calculate freight on the order itself, before or after the order is saved. That means the freight amount can appear on a proforma or order confirmation, and it can be included in a credit card pre-authorization, so you are not authorizing goods and then chasing the shipping separately.
Calculate freight when the pick ticket is being finalized and the cartons are real, which is when the numbers are exact. Or on the invoice, if freight is being settled at billing. The rate follows the cartons that were actually packed.
AIMS360 distinguishes an estimate from an accurate calculation. An estimate quotes online rates from your configured shipping services against expected weight, which is what you want on a quote or a proforma. An accurate calculation rates the real cartons at their real weights and dimensions, which is what you want before a label prints. New orders can also have freight calculated automatically from your style weights and standard pack.
The economics of why this saves money, what actually drives the price of a parcel, and which shipments you can and cannot rate shop are covered on the apparel shipping page.
Yes, and this is the part most shipping tools cannot do at all. Because a ShipVia code binds to a specific rate source, you can set up the same carrier service twice against two different accounts, and both will appear in the rate list together.
The worked example: your own negotiated UPS Ground is one ShipVia code pointing at the direct UPS API. A second UPS Ground code points at a reseller or consolidator account, such as SPL Group. Once both are set up, anywhere in AIMS360 that shipping rates appear, both lines appear, priced on their own accounts and settings.
So for any given parcel you can see UPS Ground at your contract rate and UPS Ground at the reseller's rate in the same list, and take whichever wins on that box, to that zip code, on that day. Which one wins is not stable. It moves with zone, weight and dimensions, which is exactly why comparing once a year in a spreadsheet does not find the money.
Wholesale is full of shipments that are not billed to you at all. Shipping templates set per customer control which account number bills the shipment, along with the ship-from address, the return address, and the reference fields that print on the label. That covers freight collect and third party billing, where a retailer wants their own carrier account used. It is a different problem from rate shopping, and it is handled separately on purpose, because on a retailer's account the routing guide decides the carrier, not price.
Whichever you tell it to show, per carrier, and you can override it for individual customers. This matters more than it sounds, because a rate comparison built on published rates is comparing prices nobody actually pays.
| Where | What you set |
|---|---|
| UPS | Choose whether AIMS360 requests your negotiated rates or UPS published rates. If you also run WorldShip, link it to your UPS.com account so the account specific negotiated rates you see there are the same ones the API returns here. |
| FedEx | Same choice, set when the FedEx integration is configured. Negotiated or published. |
| EasyPost | Select either your negotiated rate or the standard published rate for the carriers running through EasyPost. |
| Per customer | A shipping template can override the system default for one account. Useful where a customer is being billed freight and you want the published rate quoted rather than exposing your contract pricing. |
Published rates are the carrier's list price. Negotiated rates are what you actually agreed. They are not the same as a shipping platform's discounted rates, which are the platform's own volume deal resold to you. AIMS360 quotes against your accounts, so the comparison reflects the contracts you already negotiated.
Each connects with its own credentials under Setup, System Settings, Shipping Integrations. Every one of these has its own integration page with the detail.
| Carrier or platform | How it connects |
|---|---|
| UPS | Direct UPS API. Enter your account number and authorize with your UPS.com credentials. Rates and labels both come back over the API, and no end of day upload is needed because AIMS360 sends the required data to UPS directly. |
| FedEx | Direct FedEx API. Current versions use the FedEx REST API with a client ID and client secret alongside your account number. |
| USPS | Through EasyPost or Endicia, depending on how your postage is set up. |
| DHL and GlobalPost | International and cross border parcels. |
| GLS and FirstMile | Regional and first mile carriers, useful where a regional carrier beats the nationals on your lanes. |
| Canada Post and Purolator | Canadian domestic, through EasyPost. |
| SPL Group | A consolidator account whose rates appear alongside your direct carrier rates, which is what makes account to account comparison possible. |
| ShipStation | Where you would rather rate and label in ShipStation. Up to five ShipStation accounts can be mapped, typically one per warehouse, with tracking and freight coming back to the order. |
The full directory is on the shipping integrations page.
A ShipVia code. It is a small thing that turns out to be the hinge of the whole architecture, and it is worth understanding before you configure anything.
A ShipVia code is a two character code that names a shipping service and binds it to a real carrier account. It carries the description, the SCAC, the EDI type, the shipper, the shipping service that maps to the carrier API, a shipping days value, and the matching ShipStation service name.
That one code does a lot of work. It is what an incoming e-commerce or EDI order maps its shipping method to, what selects the service when rates are requested, what the label prints against, and what a 3PL or ShipStation maps back on the way out. It is also what lets the same carrier service exist twice against two accounts, which is the mechanism behind the comparison described above.
Two practical notes. The shipper value has to be right, because an incorrect shipper code breaks the integrations that depend on it. And the default codes that ship with the system cannot be deleted, because they are hardcoded into the shipping API and several third party integrations.
From Finalize Pick Ticket or from Shipment Processing. Cartons come from the pack, with carton types pre-seeded for standard UPS and FedEx boxes and your own box sizes added with their dimensions. Declared value is set per carton, with a one click option to distribute a total across all cartons at print time.
One thing that catches people on setup: two phone numbers are required or the label will not generate. The attention phone comes from the customer or the order, and the shipper contact phone comes from the warehouse record, which has to be filled in there rather than on the label screen.
Tag the shipments you want and batch generate. Before generating, the grid shows the carrier account number that will be used for each row, which is how you confirm third party and freight collect shipments are billing where they should be, before rather than after. Errors surface per row and have to be cleared before the batch processes.
PDF and PNG full sheet labels print straight out of AIMS360 with nothing else installed. Thermal formats for a Zebra or similar, meaning EPL and ZPL, need the Advanced Shipping Utility, a small Windows application that runs locally and is issued a per user access key. It requires an email based login with the API user flag set, and it will not run under the ADMIN account.
Once labels are generated the shipment carries a tracking number per carton and the freight amount straight from the carrier, and the pick ticket total is updated. Note that only the lead carton's tracking number prints on the pick ticket and the invoice. Labels can be reprinted from container details before invoicing, and from the invoice afterwards.
For EDI accounts the tracking flows into the 856 advance ship notice, and retail carton labeling is a separate track handled by UCC 128 labels and the VICS bill of lading. A carrier label and a retail compliance label are different documents and both usually have to be right.
Constantly, if you sell wholesale. Most large retailers route on their own accounts, and getting this wrong is a chargeback.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Shipping template | Set per customer. Holds the shipper, the account details, the ship-from address, the return address, the reference field mapping and the negotiated versus published choice, applied to a tagged set of ShipVia codes. |
| The trigger | A template only takes effect when the order is flagged freight collect or third party. Without that flag the shipment falls back to the company account, which is the single most common cause of freight landing on the wrong account. |
| On the order | Recent versions expose the third party account number directly on the order's discounts and freight tab, so it can be seen and edited without opening the customer record. |
| Reference fields | Reference 1 and 2 on the label can carry the pack ID, customer PO, shipment ID, pick ticket, customer order number or release contract PO. Retailer routing guides frequently specify these, and getting them right is what keeps a compliant shipment compliant. |
| Verify before you print | The batch label grid shows the account number per row so third party shipments can be checked as a group. |
An honest answer, given we integrate ShipStation as well as competing with it.
You are shipping wholesale and DTC from the same stock, freight needs to sit on the invoice, retailers route on their own accounts, and you want the rate decision made against the carton the warehouse actually packed. Every extra system in that chain is another place the carton count and the freight can disagree.
You need carriers AIMS360 does not connect to directly, you are running a packing workflow your team already knows, or your 3PL works in that tool. AIMS360 pushes pick tickets to ShipStation and pulls tracking and freight back, so this is a supported way to work rather than a workaround.
Plenty of brands run both, usually native carriers for wholesale and a shipping app for DTC volume. What matters is that the freight and the tracking end up back on the order either way.
Stated plainly, because finding out in month two is worse.
| Constraint | Detail |
|---|---|
| One carrier per batch | Batch label generation runs a single shipping type at a time. Mixed days mean multiple runs. |
| Only the lead tracking prints | On a multi carton shipment every carton gets its own tracking number, but only carton one's prints on the pick ticket and invoice. The rest live on the shipment record. |
| Thermal needs a local utility | PDF and PNG print from anywhere. EPL and ZPL need the Advanced Shipping Utility installed on the machine driving the printer. |
| Collect freight is not rate shopping | When a retailer pays and their routing guide names the carrier, price is not your decision. Choosing a cheaper carrier there is a compliance failure, not a saving. |
| Customs paperwork is not generated | International shipments prompt for declared value, but commercial invoices, customs forms and HS codes are not produced here. |
| Two phone numbers are mandatory | Attention phone and shipper contact phone. Missing either fails the label, and the shipper contact has to be set on the warehouse record. |
Shipping label and rate comparison questions from apparel and consumer brands.
Yes. AIMS360 connects to UPS, FedEx and USPS over their own APIs and generates labels from Finalize Pick Ticket or Shipment Processing, singly or in batch. PDF and PNG print with nothing extra installed. Thermal EPL and ZPL formats need the Advanced Shipping Utility running locally on the machine driving the printer.
The rating call is the same, but the context around it is not. A shipping app receives a parcel that is already packed and rates it. An ERP already holds the order, the customer terms, the carton contents and the declared value, so it can rate at order entry to quote a customer, again at pick ticket finalization against the real cartons, and write the resulting freight straight onto the invoice. Nothing is exported, re-keyed or reconciled afterwards.
Yes. The rate list shows the carrier service, what it costs on your account, and when it arrives, so cheapest and on time are answered in the same row. This is the part that changes decisions, because the lowest price is frequently not the line you want once you can see it lands several days later.
Yes, and that is the intended setup. UPS connects with your account number authorized against your UPS.com credentials. FedEx uses your account number with a client ID and secret on the FedEx REST API. Rates come back on your contracts rather than a reseller's table.
Either, and it is your choice per carrier. UPS, FedEx and EasyPost each carry a negotiated versus published setting, and a per customer shipping template can override the system default. If you also use WorldShip, link it to your UPS.com account so the negotiated rates match what the API returns.
Published rates are the carrier's list price. Negotiated rates are the discounted pricing you agreed with that carrier based on your volume. Both are different again from a shipping platform's discounted rates, which are the platform's own volume deal resold to you. AIMS360 quotes your accounts, so you are comparing the contracts you already have.
Yes. Because a ShipVia code binds to a specific rate source, the same carrier service can be set up twice against two accounts and both appear in the rate list together. The common case is your own negotiated UPS Ground next to a consolidator's UPS Ground, priced on their respective accounts, so you can take whichever wins on that particular parcel.
Yes, and this is something a standalone shipping app cannot do because it does not see the order until fulfillment. Freight can be calculated from the customer order itself, before or after saving, so the amount appears on a proforma or order confirmation and can be folded into a credit card pre-authorization.
Tag the shipments and run batch label generation. Before generating, the grid shows the carrier account number for each row so third party and freight collect shipments can be verified. One constraint to plan around: a batch runs a single shipping type at a time, so UPS and FedEx are separate runs.
Yes, through a shipping template on the customer account, which sets the account number, addresses and label reference fields. The template only takes effect when the order is flagged freight collect or third party. If that flag is missing the shipment falls back to your company account, which is the usual reason freight ends up billed to the wrong party.
Not for UPS, FedEx or USPS, which AIMS360 rates and labels directly. A shipping app still earns its place if you need carriers AIMS360 does not connect to, your team is committed to that packing workflow, or your 3PL works in it. AIMS360 integrates ShipStation with up to five accounts and pulls tracking and freight back onto the order, so running both is supported rather than a workaround.
No. With WorldShip you print an end of day label for the driver to scan. Using the AIMS360 UPS API that step is not required, because AIMS360 is a UPS partner and sends the required information to UPS directly. The driver just collects the packages.
It is written back when the label is generated, along with the actual freight charge from the carrier, and the pick ticket total updates. Each carton carries its own tracking number, though only the lead carton's prints on the pick ticket and invoice. For EDI accounts the tracking flows into the 856 advance ship notice.
Before invoicing, reprint from the shipment's container details. After invoicing, open the invoice, go to ship quantity details and then container details, and reprint from there. The label reprints against the same carrier account and tracking number rather than generating a new one, so you are not paying twice or confusing the carrier with a duplicate.
A two character code that names a shipping service and binds it to a real carrier account, carrying the SCAC, EDI type, shipper, the shipping service that maps to the carrier API, and the matching ShipStation service name. It is what inbound orders map their shipping method to, what selects the service for rating, what the label prints against, and what makes the same service available twice against two different accounts.
The fastest way to judge this is to rate a real shipment you sent last week against your own accounts and see what the comparison would have said.
