Trailer seal missing

Personally, I'd take a quick glance to make sure no one was inside, put new seal on, note on the BOLs that it was found unsealed, and roll.

You did the right thing in reporting it and good catch on your pretrip.

 

Absolutely the right thing to do - even better would have been communicate via Qualcomm , so as to have a record.

 

Sometimes when you pick up loads from a customer, sometimes they don t give out seals or they may only give out one seal for a load with multiple stops. The driver who picked up the load before you may have had a padlock on it until they dropped it at the yard. If I were in your shoes, I would ve open the trailer door look to see if it looks like a product missing off a pallet, if not, I would ve went ahead and delivered the load and let your company and consignee deal with any shortages. Its not your fault if the trailer isn t sealed when you picked it up. But you did the right thing when you noticed there was no seal

 

I'm not sure you handled it correctly at all. Refusing the load and going home? How hard could it have been to open the doors and look for something obvious? You will find many don't seal loads especially low-value loads of heavy, bulk items, but even if it was a load of cell phones a notation to dispatch and a go-ahead from them (that you got). I hope this was not a critical load for somebody to receive or a "service failure" for the carrier. You should have noted the bills, sealed it if you cared to and operated according to what dispatch said. Even if there was some sort of shortage, it's unlikely the costs would have been taken from your paycheck, especially in a documented, relayed situation like you describe.

I'd be more concerned about whether a black mark goes in your jacket or in your DAC if you're fired for failure to follow dispatch requests. You can claim "I did the right thing" all you want later in trying to secure a new job, but that isn't going to mean anything since you we're given instructions and failed to follow them and is the reason you may well be reprimanded.

 

Not sure if its different when you're a company driver but any trailer that has a broken seal when I arrive to pick the trailer up I won't haul. Too much liability. As a company driver its a little different company's cargo ins. Not mine. I'm sure you have been driving long enough to know that without a seal the received can refuse the load if you would've taken the load worst case scenario you would've had to head back to the yard because the received refused the load. You did the right thing by communicating the problems with dispatch and asking them what to do. When they told you to seal it though and take the load you should have sealed it noted it on the bills initialed and dated it and hauled the load as another poster said. But you did the right thing.

Now just wait till you have to do a SLC and the shipper doesn't like that and you go through 4. BOLs because they keep ripping them up

 

The thing is, SOMEBODY is going to deliver that load, may as well have been you since you were given a degree of protection given a message that essentially said "ok, note bills, seal, and deliver". If I had refused every load I was dispatched to deliver that had no seal, I'd have been broke a long time ago.

 

Well if they needed that load & you needed to get paid for that night I'd tell them if I had to reseal it I have them put in writing that the original seal was missing when you picked up the trailer & have them fax or email to receiver and/or put new seal number(if you have a seal)on B.O.L then initial your name & put a notation on it explaining the seal change if possible because if it's in a drop yard someone maybe a fellow driver could've taken a few pieces of the load to sell or keep for themselves because your right if you taken it unsealed or put a new seal on it w/o explanation they can claim you had something to do w/a shortage (whether there's one or not) on the load...Otherwise it's not worth it....You did the right thing Protect your own ###...Nuff Said!!