A Shortage Has to Be on the POD

Count what you can count, and say what you could not

The dock is loud and the lumper wants the door. You still decide what you are willing to certify. If you can count pallets, count pallets. If you can count cartons because they are loose, count cartons. If you cannot see inside a wrapped pallet, do not write the carton count as yours. Say what you counted and say what you could not see. That honesty is the notation. A round number copied from the bill, when you did not count, is how a shortage becomes your number.

Shipper load and count with an intact seal is the case where you should not count at the door just to fill the blank. Write the seal number and that it matched and was intact. If the receiver says they are short, write that they claim the shortage. Do not convert their claim into your count. The moment you write "10 short" as if you counted 10, you have left the SL&C story. The shipper-load-and-count page is that story. Stay consistent with it.

If you did count and you are short, write the number you counted. Do not hide a real count behind SL&C because the seal looked fine. A count you made is your count.

The exception line: number short, number damaged

Specific is the whole rule. "2 cartons short, PO 441, item 18" is an exception. "Subject to count" is a hedge. "Possible shortage" is a hedge. "Said to be short" is a hedge. Hedges feel polite. They read later as a clean delivery with a complaint attached. Put the number on the line. If you know the damage is separate from the shortage, separate the words: short versus crushed, wet, or torn. Do not write "OS&D" and think the letters did the work.

Sign under or beside the exception on your copy. If the form has one signature line and they want it to mean "received in full," write the exception above the signature so the signature cannot be read as a clean receipt. Initial the exception yourself. Then ask them to initial it. The order matters. Your words exist before you ask for theirs.

A shortage of one pallet from a counted pallet drop is a handling-unit shortage. A shortage of cartons inside a pallet you did not break open is an inner-count problem, which is said to contain, not a number you should invent while the wrap is intact. Photograph the wrap. Write the pallet count you made. Leave the inner count as theirs.

Receiver initials or a refused signature

Ask the person receiving the freight to initial the exception. Their initials are the acknowledgment that the note was on the paper when they signed, not added in the parking lot. If they refuse, write "receiver refused to initial" and the name and the time. If they refuse to give a name, write the refusal and the description: "checker at door 12 refused name and refused to initial." Do not leave the line blank because the conversation was awkward.

The trade they will offer is simple. Sign our clean copy and you can go. Do not take it. A clean copy with your signature is the exhibit. Your exception on a copy they did not see is a story about a paper they will say is not the delivery receipt. Keep your copy. Send it to the broker the same day. If they will not give you any copy, photograph the screen or the paper they are holding, if you can do it without a fight, and write that they refused to provide a receipt with the exception on it.

Leaving the building is not the goal. Leaving with a truthful receipt is the goal. A delayed departure is cheaper than a shortage you certified as delivered.

Photos at the door, not in the parking lot after

Photograph the stack that is short, the label, the empty spot if a pallet is missing, and the seal number if this was a sealed load. Do it at the door while the freight is still the delivery. A photo in the parking lot after the doors are closed shows a trailer, not a count. A photo at the truck stop shows nothing about their dock.

The picture does not replace the words on the POD. A photograph of nine pallets without a receipt that says nine pallets is an argument. The receipt plus the photograph is a file. Take both. Do not take only the picture and sign clean because the phone "has it."

A clean POD, concealed damage, and the 5-day path

If you signed clean, expect the claimant to use that signature. You can still tell the truth later. You will be explaining why the paper says something else. That explanation is harder than a contemporaneous exception, and you should assume it may fail.

Concealed damage is the other path. The packaging looked intact, the count looked right, and the damage was inside. Many bills ask for notice within five days. That practice is the concealed-damage guide. It is not a five-day grace period for a shortage you watched. Visible shortage is not concealed. Waiting five days to mention nine pallets instead of ten is how a clean POD becomes the only record. If you saw it, it goes on the paper before you leave.

POD best practices covers signatures, legibility, and how not to lose the receipt. Use it for habits. Use this page when the number is short.

OS&D calls the same day

Tell the broker the same day, with the POD photo and your count. The call does not replace the notation. The notation does not replace the call. A broker who hears about the shortage a week later, when the shipper has already sent an invoice, cannot help you reconstruct a door you already left. Same-day notice is also how redelivery or a recount can still happen while the freight is in the building.

The notation is not the claim. A claim needs a writing with an amount, on the clock the Carmack page describes. Your job at the door is the evidence. Someone else's job, or yours later, is the claim. Do not skip the evidence because you plan to "handle the claim." There is nothing to handle if the receipt says the freight was all there.

If you cannot finish the sentence honestly, you are about to sign the wrong paper. Stop and rewrite it before the truck moves.

If more than one bill is on the trailer, the exception names the bill. A shortage on one stop written only as "short" can be read against the wrong delivery. Put the bill number, the stop, and the piece or pallet count you are willing to certify on that line. A lumper's worksheet is not your POD unless you write the same numbers on the receipt you sign.

Keep the annotated copy where the claim file will look, not only in the driver's personal photos. The office should have it the day of delivery. A notation nobody can find is the same as a clean receipt when the claimant asks for the delivery papers.

Do not let the receiver write the exception for you in vague words and then hand you the pen. Read it. If it says received in good order except as noted, and nothing is noted, it is clean. Write the number yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions