Rejected Loads = Overages, Shortages & Damaged, what do you do?

Hi Tall-Joe - I'm new to perishable trucking...about how often does a shipper lay all blame on the trucker? I understand that most shippers don't allow drivers to inspect loads at shipper sites due to possible accidents/insurance policies...if I can't inspect the load, how would I actually know if there wasn't any damage to the load before leaving the shipper site??

 

When I was hauling produce, it happened quite often compared to what I experience now when hauling dry van freight. Most of those claims blamed on a driver had something to do with temperature records or product being "damaged" due to poor securement, which is at times is quite unavoidable, for instance, too high pallets with heavy cantaloupes will always collapse ,if the boxes are made from thin, cheap carton, no matter how inventive the securement is.
Also, they can refuse the load due to quality issues, it has nothing to do with a carrier, but still, the carrier must take it to a location indicated by the broker, wasting time for a little extra pay.

A driver should be allowed on a dock to check the count and pulp temperature, if they want the driver to sign the BOL certifying that he agrees with the quantity and product condition. They more often than not have something in fine print to cover themselves and drivers simply blindly put their signature below it. I fought so many battles with them shippers to be allowed to write SLC - Shipper Load and Count, maybe unnecessarily, but I was always too paranoid about this staff. One time, after the whole night spent at a dock, I refused to sign it and they offloaded the truck. Then they allowed me on a dock and we simply started to count the staff. My boss at the time was very strict on these procedures.

Final note: Most of the claims that resulted in damaged product during transport could have been avoided, if shippers were less negligent with the type of material they package their product and their stacking methods. Often, they try to save money by not providing air bags and stacking too high. I never saw E-tracks inside reefers and load-locks are not even half as good as straps.

 

That’d probably be an issue seeing how we all need food,