OVERVIEW
In Mail Center Manager the money received from a customer for postage must be committed to a job before it can be applied to a job. This makes it easier to keep track of the postage money. You can commit money to the estimated postage then pay the actual amount after you are sure of what it is. This allows you to estimate a postage amount greater than actual. After you have dropped the job and if the number of pieces is less than estimated you can adjust the job to the correct number and apply the committed money to the postage. If there is an over payment it will go against the postage account as un-committed. You may at any time transfer money from the postage to account to AR to be applied against services.
UNLOCKING THE GRID
When you open this form the lower section, the grid showing the jobs, is locked. After you enter information in the upper section, the lower section will unlock and the upper section will lock. This is to force you to move through the form sequentially. If you make a mistake and need to change your entry, you will need to click "Cancel Transactions" and start over. This helps the program insure data integrity and keep track of the receipts, commits and applied payments.
TOTALS SECTION
When you open the Postage Accounting Form you will see the totals in the upper left section. The "Total Postage Due" is postage that is still open, the "Total On Account" has been received but not applied in payment and the "Total Committed" is the amount that is committed to specific jobs.
ENTERING AN AMOUNT TO COMMIT OR PAY WITH
In the upper right side you have the selections for defining the postage money received. This is identical to the type of payment in the AR receipts. If you have already received money into the postage account for this customer, and have not committed it to specific jobs you will have un-committed money in the account. If you have un-committed money in the account you will see a check box to the left of the "Type Of Payment" label that says "Apply From Account". When you put a check in this box a drop down field will appear that will allow you to select the un-committed receipt you wish to commit then apply. If you do not have un-committed money in the account you will not see the check box labeled "Apply From Account".
Whether you select an un-committed receipt or receive a new check you will end up with a dollar figure in the "Amount" field. When there is something in the Amount field the grid at the bottom of the form will unlock.
NO RECEIPTS CHECK BOX
The only other way to unlock the grid at the bottom is to put a check in the "No Receipts" box. This should only be done when you have money already committed to postage in a job, the job has been completed and you want to apply the committed money to pay the postage.
COMMITTING AND PAYING
The money received is committed to a job by putting a check in the "Commit" box in the grid next to the postage description. If the job has already shipped and you are sure the amount of postage is correct, you can check the "Pay" box instead. If you check the "Pay" box, the program will automatically commit the money before it pays the postage. If you only want to commit the money against a job and not pay it, put a check in the "Commit" box and the amount of the job will be subtracted from the amount of the money received and placed into the "Amount Committed" column for the job.
CREATING AN OPEN CREDIT IN THE POSTAGE ACCOUNT
If you receive a large sum of money to place against several jobs, just start clicking the Commit check boxes until you use all the available funds. If you would rather not commit any money to any jobs, you simply enter the amount of money received and click the Post Transactions button. A credit will be created for you to use later. You can commit none, some or all of the money received.
USING COMMITTED MONEY AND OVER-PAYMENTS
If you have previously committed money to jobs when you open this form, you can check the "No Receipts" box and the grid will unlock. You can then check the "Pay" button of a job that has money committed to it and the postage will be paid. If the amount committed is greater than the actual postage you will have the option to leave the balance in the postage account or transfer it to AR for use against the services.