System and method to facilitate the pricing of freight transportation services
First Claim
1. A method for determining a suggested price for freight transportation services comprising steps of:
- receiving commodity, quantity, origin and destination data for the freight transportation services, calculating a plurality of pricing reference values, including a reference value representative of an estimated price of a competitor and a reference value representative of costs, said costs being estimated costs for rendering the freight transportation services, and determining a suggested price, said suggested price being equal to or greater than the reference value representative of costs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented method of facilitating the pricing of freight transportation services entails receiving information to compute pricing benchmarks from which a suggested price may be selected. The information may include, e.g., the commodity to be transported, the origin and destination, the vehicle type, and whether the customer owns the vehicle. In some cases, the type of commodity will dictate the appropriate type of vehicle (e.g., a covered hopper railroad car). Additional information may include the customer'"'"'s name, user'"'"'s identification, date, shipment dates and other information related to the potential transaction. Benchmarks may be computed based on the aforementioned information, historical data and pricing guidelines. The benchmarks account for best current rates, the amount a competitor would charge for transporting the commodity, costs, a minimum financial return, a desired profit, and historic rates per mile for the relevant commodity. The benchmarks, which may be computed in any order and according to various formulae so long as they establish desired limits for pricing, are used to determine a suggested price that is competitive, provides a desired financial return and does not cannibalize any existing traffic.
36 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for determining a suggested price for freight transportation services comprising steps of:
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receiving commodity, quantity, origin and destination data for the freight transportation services, calculating a plurality of pricing reference values, including a reference value representative of an estimated price of a competitor and a reference value representative of costs, said costs being estimated costs for rendering the freight transportation services, and determining a suggested price, said suggested price being equal to or greater than the reference value representative of costs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of determining a suggested price for rail freight transportation services comprising steps of:
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receiving commodity, quantity, origin, destination and rail car type data for the rail freight transportation services, calculating a truck benchmark and a minimum equipment financial return benchmark, and determining a suggested price based on the benchmarks. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A computer-implemented system for determining a suggested price for rail freight transportation services comprising:
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means for receiving commodity, quantity, origin, destination and rail car type data for the rail freight transportation services, means for calculating a truck benchmark, a best current rates benchmark and a minimum equipment financial return benchmark, and means for determining a suggested price based on the benchmarks. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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32. A system for determining a suggested price for rail freight transportation services as in step 31, wherein:
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if the best current rates benchmark and the minimum equipment financial return benchmark are less than or equal to the truck benchmark, then said suggested price is greater than or equal to the minimum equipment financial return benchmark, and less than or equal to the truck benchmark, and if the best current rates benchmark or the minimum equipment financial return benchmark is greater than the truck benchmark, then said suggested price is equal to the higher of the best current rates benchmark or the minimum equipment financial return benchmark.
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Specification