I've started paying attention to bills of lading and I noticed that the field "CARRIER" sometimes lists a totally different company, not MacKinnon I'm leased to. Sometimes I show up and the shipper says, "Who sent you? Who gave you this load?" When I say, "Dispatch" they look at me like I'm an idiot The other day I picked up some equipment and the carrier on the b/l is something like "ABC heavy haul". The shipper says, "Sign your name at the bottom and write down the company name where it says, "Agent".

Can this be one of those double-brokering schemes or is it an everyday occurrence?

I recently read a story in the InternetTruckstop magazine where this lawyer was saying you never sign a bill of lading unless it has YOUR COMPANY NAME listed as carrier. He also recommended getting a cheap stamp with the company name and stamp all paperwork.

What do you guys think? How important is this little detail when you run your own authority? Thanks!

 

Interesting question. How does the shipper know you're not stealing the load.? How does the shipper know you really work for your company?

 

Brokered load. The carrier on the BOL is the original carrier. When you sign put your name and carrier.

 

I've always put the carrier name, just before my signature, cause you are actually signing on their authority.
No matter if the carrier name is on a BOL, or not.

 

Ditto.....Plus my carrier's BOL number for the trip.

 

On the over the counter bill of ladings there is a place for the carrier at the top and about mid way down the page there is a place for the delivering carrier information. Since so many loads come from brokers I would like to see a place for the broker information. That way it would be easier to distinguish between a broker load and one that comes direct. Since the broker is not a carrier in most cases it is incorrect for the broker to be listed as the carrier. However, that is usually the way the bills are made out.

 

Are you talking about a p/up number? The only BOL number I ever have is on the bill itself.

Note* these are all great ideas that I'm going to start practicing. I always just sign and date like they ask me to.

 

I believe, he meant the carrier "internal" number, for that particular trip.....

 

Your belief is correct Solo.

All shipping papers for bulk loads are computer generated. Because of the extensive amount of numbers involved in a "bulk" shipment, No one person wants to be blamed if something is wrong, especially with a haz-mat shipment.

I always write the "trip" number from the Carrier on the "Shipping" documents. DOT likes seeing that.

 

I think that you will find that most carriers want their pro number or trip number on all paperwork that is turned in. It helps to keep the paperwork together in case something gets misplaced. Sometimes the trip or pro number and bill of lading is the same number.