As a carrier, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your cargo shipments arrive intact and on time. While checking your truck’s progress is important, you must perform regular freight inspections as soon as you deliver shipments.
Freight inspections are crucial for your quality of service and the satisfaction of your clients and customers. Today, let’s break down how to perform a freight inspection step-by-step, plus break down the importance of this procedure in the industry.
What Is Freight Inspection?
Freight inspection is the act of checking your cargo after delivering it. For example, say that you are supposed to deliver a shipment of important manufacturing supplies for a business over the next 24 hours.
When you deliver that cargo, you should inspect it after exiting your truck to make sure that:
- You’ve delivered all the cargo that was ordered (and there aren’t any cargo pieces missing)
- The cargo you delivered is in good condition or in the condition you expected it to be in
- The cargo you delivered is accurate in terms of quantity, type, etc.
Think of a freight inspection as double-checking that your clients receive what they ordered and that you delivered the freight without damaging it. You would do the same for a personal package; therefore, it’s doubly important to do a freight inspection whenever you deliver an official business cargo shipment.
You can perform freight inspections before and after loading or unloading cargo, depending on your location, the responsibilities of the local facility, and other factors. Furthermore, some shipping companies may perform freight inspections on your behalf, though it's still a good idea to double-check those inspections and their results so you can be sure that what your clients say is true.
You can perform a freight inspection, just like a cargo client can perform a freight inspection as well. For example, a client may randomly inspect one of your shipments upon delivery to confirm that the cargo has arrived on time and in the right quantity.
This practice is more common in arrangements for you to deliver a lot of cargo for a client throughout the month. Instead of thoroughly auditing each delivery, the client may “randomly” perform a freight inspection from time to time.
Why Is Freight Inspection Important?
Put simply, freight inspection is important because it allows you to make sure that your cargo is delivered intact and to protect yourself from legal liability.
In some cases, clients may try to get out of paying freight rates by claiming that you damaged their cargo or that some cargo was not delivered at all. If you keep accurate records and perform freight inspections, you can counteract these claims and run a tighter business, protecting yourself and any employees associated with you.
A good freight inspection will tell you:
- Whether the cargo was damaged or lost in any capacity
- How the cargo was likely damaged or lost
- How to prevent the same damage from occurring in the future
Perhaps more importantly, performing a freight inspection upon delivery of new cargo allows you to explain any damage or missing items that may have been noticed.
For example, if you notice that some of your boxes are dented or damaged, you can tell your client that you ran into rough weather or were almost in an accident. They may have a legitimate reason for why the boxes are damaged! But at least they know what happened and don’t have to worry.
In other cases, freight inspection is important to curate your relationships with different clients and shipping companies. If a business client regularly tries to scam you, for example, by not explaining its shipping policies in detail, you can protect yourself by proving that your cargo still arrived intact or that you didn’t do anything wrong.
On top of that, you may occasionally leave your truck unattended from time to time, such as to sleep in a motel, to get refreshments, and for other reasons. If your truck is broken into and some cargo is stolen, performing a freight inspection will help you notice this immediately and provide the information to your clients.
In the shipping business, integrity and honesty are just as important as other traits. Freight inspections keep everything above board and give carriers and clients the transparency and records they need to fully trust each other, particularly at the beginning of business relationships.
They’re so crucial for businesses and clients of all types that they’re not something you should ever ignore. Consider performing a freight inspection as a key duty for all carrier owner-operators.
How Do You Perform Freight Inspection?
Fortunately, performing a freight inspection isn’t overly difficult. In many cases, it will only take a few extra minutes out of one’s day.
1. Confirm Your Shipment
Your first step is to confirm your freight shipment. In other words, you mark that you’ve arrived safely at your final destination with your transportation or shipping client.
If you were supposed to ship a certain number of products, for instance, count how many products are in the freight shipment and confirm their arrival. You should also ensure that the products are the right type and size. This can be a little tricky depending on the industry in the cargo you have transported, but do your best regardless.
Instruct the local cargo or warehouse manager to confirm the shipment using an electronic supply chain management system. This way, they can track which shipments you have delivered and which shipments you still need to deliver soon.
Depending on your software, you may be able to confirm individual elements of your shipment or the shipment as a whole. Confirming your shipment simply notifies any connected systems that you’ve arrived and have brought the requested cargo.
2. Check for Missing Items
Next, do a more in-depth check of the freight shipment and examine it for any missing items. The last thing you want is to confirm your shipment, update your client’s supply chain management software in the process, and discover that some products are missing or destroyed. In that case, you’ll have to go back in and manually adjust the numbers of your products, materials, or other shipment units.
This can be a little time-consuming, but try to do it as soon as you arrive with the shipment anyway. Note that you aren't required to unbox everything to perform an accurate count; that's the responsibility of the shipping client or recipient. If you notice anything missing, take note of it and report the information to the client as soon as possible.
3. Check for Damage
Like a freight audit, your freight inspection should include a comprehensive check for damage. Transportation carriers are responsible for delivering their cargo not just on time but in one piece or in the quality that the recipient expects.
If a client receives a shipment of products for their business, for instance, and the products have shattered or been damaged in transit, they may have the right to request compensation from the shipping provider. At the very least, they deserve an explanation.
Check for damage, and if you detect any, try to determine what happened. For example, maybe you ran into inclement weather or accidentally failed to tie down the cargo properly. Be honest and upfront about any damage you detect, and don’t hide it.
In any case, this valuable information will help you determine your next steps.
4. Document Your Findings
At this stage, it’s time to document your findings from the freight inspection. You should put your findings in the software you already use or write them down depending on your business processes.
Regardless, document your findings should include a breakdown of any damaged or missing items you detected and any explanations given by the shipping carrier. Once you have this information, you can contact your employing shipping service and let them know about the incident.
Don’t get rid of these documents or notes once you resolve the damaged or missing freight! Keep the findings in your records, so you have legal backing if needed later on, such as if a client tries to accuse you of stealing their products.
5. Compare Before and After Photos
In some cases, it can be tough to tell whether your freight has really arrived in one piece. In others, a shipping client might claim that you stole or damaged some of their products when no such incident took place.
Therefore, you should take "before" photos of your cargo before you leave your original destination. Then, once you arrive at your final destination, take more photos and compare them. This will allow you to protect yourself from legal liability, such as accusations of theft.
Before-and-after photos are also broadly useful when determining whether all of the major cargo pieces you shipped are still there. It’s often faster to confirm in this visual way than scan through long lists of cargo records.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, a freight inspection won’t take too much time out of your day, plus it will allow you to ensure that your shipments reach their destinations intact. Not only will you benefit from more pleased clients, but you’ll also be able to determine whether a client is being honest about how any damage was incurred.
Bottom line: freight inspections are a necessary part of the cargo shipping process. That's why you should expect them when working with end-to-end transportation providers like RPM. At RPM, we employ fully licensed, knowledgeable carriers to ensure your cargo gets where it needs to go on time and on budget.
Contact us today to learn more.
Sources:
Cargo Theft | National Insurance Crime Bureau
Best Supply Chain Management Software 2022 | Forbes Advisor
Freight damage claims FAQs | GSA
