What obligation does shipper have for packaging loads?

If you signed for it and it’s on your trailer there’s not much you can do other than tarp it to make sure it stays on your trailer.

 

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I second this notion of taking pics of everything during loading. Like @OLDSKOOLERnWV said about the amount of pics, I keep my old phone in the truck just for taking pics and back them up to the cloud for easy retrieval. I have close to 90,000 pics from my loads over the last
10-12 years.

 

Former job I did a lot of palletizing of stuff that I suppose some here would deem unacceptable because of what it was, and there was shrink wrap involved. Went on a flat bed.

Cast iron pipe fittings, valves and the like.

Shrink wrapped and banded the stuff as if, strangely enough, peoples lives and my job depended on it. Helped that I also drove the truck it went out on as well. Even when I stopped driving the truck and was primarily warehouse operations I was still super picky about how stuff was packaged and loaded. Didn't care if it meant some jackwad foreman at a job site was gonna be mad their stuff would show up 30 minutes later than they wanted it.

The rub is, as @OLDSKOOLERnWV mentioned a lot of warehouse guys are dumb as rocks or simply don't care because they feel it's no longer their problem once the truck is loaded. On that front it's the responsibility of the driver to be proactive in what's being put on their deck and if something doesn't look right, to speak up and say something. Maybe that's easier for O/O's to do, but I did it as a company driver as well.

 

To answer your question more accurately, there are no real laws/regulations stating the packaging or containment of general freight. Outside of the DOT/FMCSA guidelines, that are more for securement than anything else. It is up to the shipper and eventually the transportation provider to determine if the “packaging” is acceptable.

 

Those things look like remnants from a plasma cutter, and really wouldn't look good as a radiator or windshield ornament. Small stuff like that belongs in drums or bins, not shrink wrapped loose on a pallet. We used to have a 'coffin box" w/lid that we'd load all the small stuff in.

In so much as I realize that you're very conscientious and wouldn't have let them load that on your trailer that way, had you known, once it's on your trailer and you accept the shipment, it's your baby, or your companies liability to get it delivered safely.

I can hear it now, "We always load it this way, nobody else has a problem with it." Yeah, well guess what, I aint everyone else. Lesson learned, be thankful it turned out ok...

 

I spent time with CFCC and CF back in the day in several capacities including NMFC Weights and Inspections that dealt with freight. There are substantial guidelines outlining packaging strengths, break points etc, etc , etc. but nothing that had the weight of a law or regulation behind it. It was mostly geared to the claims and class rating side of the business and was very general and open ended. In this day and age it is very arcane. So long answer is yes there are guidelines for proper packaging under the NMFC but nothing that will help achieve punishment for that shippers poor packaging

 

Sorry but it's your fault. You never should have allowed that on your trailer. You're not pulling a a van. You have to be out there helping in the loading process. This is important for so many reasons. One of which is to make sure the Shipper packages their freight to YOUR standards or they get to not load it.

I went through a very similar situation with my most regular run. I've been hauling for them for over a year and all of the sudden they started trying to load my trailer with shrink wrapped material that wasn't secured in any other matter. I told them to find another carrier if they couldn't get it secured and banded.

That department is a revolving door of management so people (mostly temp workers) never get trained properly. Bottom line is be nosey like the poster above mentioned. I assist in any way possible and if they don't want me helping, I'm standing there watching their every move.

 

You're right. Assume the worst. I usually ask them: "would you want this to go through your mom's windshield?"

 

Yea,,looks like a fkd up deal with me,,I’m with you,,they should have put that #### in steel tubs,,someone is trying for a bonus saving on freight charges,,should have told em to go ## themselves,,they could have done better,,but they knew someone would take the risk,,and if an incident occurred,,guess who would have got the blame,,,,you guessed it,,bottom line,,they do t want you to make any money dude,,cause if you would have rejected it,,look at lol the shat that would have come down the pipe,,good luck