SH> cost SH> Expressed in the lowest unit of originators currency. Usually set SH> to zero.
s/Usually set to zero\./Usually set to zero when the message is packed\. This is because the cost field in the local unpacked copy of the message pertains to the actual cost in monetary value to transmit the message from the local system to the destination system\./
i'm pointing this out for clarification as to what this field is used for as well as why it is zeroed out...
more details: in some cases, it may cost more than a mailer event is allowed to transmit at the time of that event... some mailers have events where mail is qualified by certain attributes of a message for sending... if a mailer event qualifies mail with a cost less than or equal to X and the message, before being exported and packed into a PKT, is marked with a cost of X+1 or more, then the message is too expensive to transmit during that event... as such it is held back for a later event that may qualify it to be transmitted... this type of qualifying mail for transmission is seen most often in dynamic mailers that pack netmail messages themselves when they scan the netmail directory at the start of each event... BSO (aka static aka blackhole) mailers do not have this dynamic ability but certain BSO tools and utilities can perform this action of qualifying mail at certain times... in the days of POTS connections, it may have cost a system $0.25 in long distance fees to connect to the destination system... at a certain period of the day, that cost may be reduced to $0.10... the system operator may elect to hold mail that is marked $0.25 until that period of the day when the cost charged by the owner of the transmission medium (eg: POTS lines) is $0.10 so as to save some $$$... echomail messages are a slightly different form of netmail messages... the cost field generally applies to netmail messages and it is very rare for echomail messages to have a cost value more than zero since echomail messages are generally packed in bulk whereas netmail messages are generally packed individually but this depends on the mail packer software...
