Silly question but looking for serious answers - Damaged Freight

Hey guys,

As we all know, damaged freight is part of the business. Whether the item is functional/usable/ or maintaining it's natural aesthetics has no bearing on whether something is "damaged". It could be a small dent on a fridge, or a crumbled box, or just the simple fact that the consignee is whining about something trivial.

Anyways, my question is about the end point for all of this freight from your own experience. Is most of this freight headed to a local consignment shop? How long are carriers holding on to this stuff on average? Is there a more universal way of handling all this damaged freight, or is it a free-for-all? Logistically, reselling is hard because I would imagine carriers don't want to sit on this stuff forever. That is why centralizing all this damaged freight onto one platform to auction/sell would be a challenge, but I think it may be doable. That is why I am asking you these questions

Note: Obviously, I am not referring to perishables and other hazardous/expirable goods.

EDIT: I am a software developer but my dad started and has owned a trucking/warehouse company for nearly 30 years (regional carrier specializing in LTL/TL. We do some OTR). I am just doing some research and would LOVE your insight and experience.

 

Food gets damaged. Food gets taken care of.

Nothing else gets damaged. Much. Maybe a dent maybe not. If anything got damaged it's going to be food products.

 

I see. Then what about flourishing consignment shops? How do they continue to fill their inventory?

I always thought there was quite a bit of freight that got caught in limbo.

 

The flatbed business will take damaged freight and resell it. Will not pay the driver and file an insurance claim for 100% of the value. It's a total scam!

 

only good thing about reefer is the damaged goods and usually they tell driver to dispose of it ...... sometimes they have you bring it to a terminal so they can divide it between the people there so then you have to really damage it so it's unusable. .... dry goods seems like the reciever wants to keep most of it and note it on the bills ... sometimes but rarely you have extra box or 2 of something and usually they will tell you to dispose of it .... I have a grill a cabinet in my laundry room but bootie is few and far between since I switched to dry van

 

98% of damaged freight has nothing wrong with it. Perishables, like produce being the exception.

Had a customer that almost every load delivered had some type of damage claim on it. Nothing was ever damaged, just made a false claim. Even would note on bills. The reason was they wanted to get free product and shipping. When we started demanding to have the damaged product put back on the truck, the claims against our company just disappeared. Was amazing.

 

If you're independent you tell them to put it back on the truck since you're going to be buying it. Otherwise they can take their claim and shove it where the sun don't shine.

 

We call those thrift shops.

People drop off stuff all the time. Estate bulk clothing etc. Goodwill is another that comes to mind.

Freight is generally insured. If it is damaged, OSD (Over short and damaged) the office has someone to take care of it, get the count, type of damage and weight related to meats etc. Then it is directed for disposile. Twice we had a entire load rejected and thus landfilled. Someone paid the 1100 fee for the dumping into the landfill out of our tractor trailer. Trash, thrown away. Most of the time wholesalers get the product and then sort out the losses and sell what is still edible. One way or another it is handled.

What does not happen very often if at all is that you the driver get to take it home and do whatever you like with it. It's officially damaged in some way and it becomes part of a insurance or other loss problem. Long ago if we came back with two cases of salad dressing bulk containers, they went into a freezer and is resold at a loss. There is something in it.

At the end of day, it's taken care of somehow. You do not want to be the one that caused the damage or loss whatever happens.

 

I think you mix up two terms, receiver and consignee.

I deal with this almost daily so here is the thing - MOST **truckers/operators/carriers** don't keep the damaged product.

It isn't their properly.

When there is a cargo damage claim, and that claim goes to the the insurance company, the insurance company then OWNS that cargo and many times will take the load or product when it is paid for.

A lot of times those damaged cargo sits on the dock because the consignee owns the load until that claim is paid and ownership is transfered, they are the responsible financial entity involved with this.

Most of the claims have been dealt with through the insurance company, the exception is food products where the receiver rejects them.

 

My daughter works for a local animal shelter. Once every three months or so the local Target store sends over a 48 foot trailer full of damaged products to donate. Everything you can think of but mostly animal products, but a lot of toilet paper, laundry detergent and cleaning products. Usually the packaging is damaged but the product is just fine. It's always more than the shelter can handle, so the employees always have free dog and cat food. I still have a garage full of TP and paper towels as well as 50 pound bags of dog food. It saves a lot of money for us. They also give out free pet food to the local homeless for their animals and anybody else who has trouble affording it.

My last company job hauled mostly wine, and when a case was damaged our company bought it and gave it out to the employees. I still have cases of wine from a year ago. They make great gifts.