Bill of Lading. Physical copy or on your phone.

In the eyes of the DOT. Do you need to have a physical copy of your bill of lading on hand ?? Or can you have a picture of one on your phone or iPad ??

 

they will need to see it. you give the access to your device when you do that

 

Yes. Electronic Bills of Lading are only legal in Singapore, Bahrain and Germany.

 

I could be reading this wrong, but this looks to say that yes, an electronic copy is fine....
Regulatory Guidance Concerning Electronic Signatures and Documents | FMCSA

 

I know a carrier that does everything on an ipad. Signatures and everything. I'm not sure how it would work with hazmat though since you "have to leave a BOL on the driver's seat while the operating is out of the vehicle"

 

Oklahoma may have a different opinion on E-copies. They only want to see paper.

 

Thanks for that. The federal register it links to says "Any electronic document or signature is considered the legal equivalent of a paper document or signature if it is the functional equivalent with respect to integrity, accuracy and accessibility.". So id say electronic is fine for fmcsa regulated stuff.

 

In spite of what ZVar has pointed out, the question of whether it constitutes legal depends on it's usage and ability to be reproduced, if requested by and FMCSA personnel or officer on demand, it must be able to be reproduced on demand. Logs, etc, so if it's in an accepted (key word) form, it's legal, but as a driver, this sounds to me like it pertains to record retention. According to this "guidance", again, it stipulates that being able to be produced on demand, it must be provided.

To me, as a driver, this sound to me like background paper retention. As Dave1837 points out, would this apply to Hazmat requirements? I'm not sure it would, but let me put it this way. A few years back, when we were put in that "electronic DOT Physical" record system? I still carried my paper copy, the LONG Form. When the weigh station pulled me in, he informed me my DOT Physical was expired. I showed him my paper copy. I don't trust electronic. When that "guidance" informs you that you must produce something on demand, you have to produce it. I point this out, because before I was stopped at that weight station, I had to reconstruct my log book because the electronic logging had gone out. Whether it was distance in the boonies or, glitch, doesn't matter. When I rolled into that station, I had hard copy log, explained what happended, and also showed my DOT Physical. Now you can depend on electronics documents if you want, but I want hard copy. I love technology, but I know enough not to depend on it. Period.

 

We have customers that only use E-Billing.
Sign it on the phone.

 

I was at the Wyoming scale the other day
They were checking for current IFTA

Guy in front of me showed her his phone. Not sure if it was his IFTA or BOL, I assume it was the BOL as I doubt electronic IFTA would fly

He said or asked if he could use his cel, she said yes but you’re opening yourself up to a whole lot of possible issues and that it was just safer/better to have the paper