Trucking: Freight Carrier Problem. Driver will not let us inspect cargo before signing bill., customer service rep, ups freight

Question
It is interstate but two carriers are involved. Origin is California. Destination is Washington state.

Origination carrier is UPS Freight. UPS freight delivers it to Washington state and then hands it off to another company called TMS that then delivers it to us. So the final carrier only travels within the destination state. I do not know if that makes a difference.

Each shipment we receive is always just one pallet. The pallet will usually contain anywhere from 10 to 30 boxes.

Each box on the pallet usually contains both fragile(electronics) and non fragile items. For the electronics, we have no way to know of any damage or shortages without opening the box. The boxes they come in are shipping boxes, not retail packaging.

The pallet usually has so much shrink-wrap that any possible damage is not immediately visible. The driver will NOT let me remove any shrink-wrap without first signing the bill. So if we can not even remove the shrink-wrap holding down all the boxes, there is no way we can check each box contents for damage.

Other carriers have never given us this kind of headache. I don’t think it unreasonably delays the driver. With other carriers we usually have the cargo inspected, counted, and signed off on the bill, all in about 10 minutes tops.


I am not 100% sure but I really have a feeling that this carrier is just trying to limit their liability by coercing customers to sign for cargo before any inspection can be made. I called their 1-800 number to politely express my concerns, especially the notation on the bottom of the bill stating "ALL DAMAGE OR SHORTAGE MUST BE NOTED ON THIS BILL." The TMS customer service rep I first spoke with actually hung up on me!


Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated :)


Answer
L. Davis....
In regard to the question of whether the shipment would be intrastate or interstate, if it is shipped interstate via a through bill of lading, in most situations the entire shipment would be defined as interstate.  That's true even if the delivering carrier only transports within the state where it is delivered.  The significance of that is the shipment and carrier would be subject to federal regulations under the US DOT's FMCSA.  In this particular situation it is really no substantial impact on the carrier's policy of not providing sufficient time for you to conduct an inspection.....with one notable exception.  You may want to verify the delivering carrier is registered with the US DOT and is legal and compliant to transport interstate shipments.  If not, that may be grounds for you to appeal to the wholesaler consigning the shipments, to contract with another carrier.

If you can consistently complete the inspection within a ten minutes time frame, I would suggest that you may try to work out an informal arrangement with the driver(s).  Company policy not withstanding, it may be possible to do so and allow you the ten minutes you need to do the inspection.  Unfortunately, it sounds like you've already exhausted that avenue.  If not, maybe it is worth another try.

Your suspicions that the carrier may be attempting to limit their liability may or may not be well founded.  I would certainly have no way to determine or make a judgement call about that.  I can tell you that with the intense business competition and spiraling operational costs, successful carriers are being forced to be extremely efficient and increase productivity of their equipment and employees.  Otherwise, they jeopardize economic viability and their very survival.  That may be more of a driving factor as opposed to an effort to limit liability since most are insured for damage anyway.

At this time and until you're able to work out some alternative arrangement, I suggest that you may want to accept and sign the receipt....BUT with the disclaimer that you are not acknowledging the shipments condition, only that it was delivered.  Regardless of any company's policy, you can't legally be coerced in to signing a statement that you do not know be true.  You can annotate the receipt with a statement of fact that the shipment is accepted and liability is NOT waived for concealed damages that may be found later.

I'm sorry I can't provide a regulatory foundation that would enable you to take a more positive action to resolve the issue.  Unfortunately, there is no provision beyond the carrier providing a reasonable time for delivery.  The legal determination of what is "reasonable" would obviously be a decision of a court's ruling.

There is an excellent source of information on this subject that may be available in your local library and you may find it of interest..... "Freight Claims in Plain English" at Section 5.0, Burdens of Proof.

Thank you again and I sincerely hope you're able to work out an amicable agreement that allows you to complete the inspection to your satisfaction.

....Don