What to do Once Your Freight has Arrived at its Destination

09/24/2013 — Matt Nagel

Your freight shipment has been created, shipped, and tracked. The shipment has now arrived at its destination and you're ready to complete the final steps in the freight shipping process.

As you know from my two previous posts, PartnerShip has tailored its website to assist customers before and during shipping. We'll now provide you with some steps for after-shipping best practices.

Step #1: If the shipment was inbound, check for damaged or missing items.

As rare as it may occur, it's always a best practice to record and check shipments for shortages, damages, and concealed damages immediately upon delivery.

If you find an issue with your shipment, here are some guidelines for making sure the problem is properly documented:

• Always notify your vendor of short or damaged shipments
• Have the driver precisely document all exceptions on the delivery receipt
• Contact the carrier within 15 days of delivery date to report concealed shortages or damages
• Never pay for merchandise not received
• Always try to have your vendor file the LTL freight claim
• Claims must be filed within 9 months of delivery date (claims forms for PartnerShip carriers are in the Shipping Forms menu)
• If you have any questions, call your PartnerShip account representative and they will gladly help you with the freight claims process

Step #2: Pay your freight invoices.

If your shipment was sent 3^rd party billed through PartnerShip, you have the time-saving option of using PartnerShip.com to view, track and pay your Invoicing online. We've organized your open invoices for easy reference. The Invoicing tool allows you to view invoices by invoice number and pay invoices immediately with a credit card.

Once your invoices are paid, you can use Payment History to see all of your past invoice payments and transactions.

Step #3: Keep track of your freight shipments.

In my last post, you learned that using Shipment History on PartnerShip.com is a great way to view all shipments that are in transit. Now that your freight is no longer in transit, Shipment History is a great way to get a consolidated view of all shipments sent in the past. By using Shipment History as a reporting tool, you're able to search shipments by date and keep track of your shipment frequency and details in one report - no matter how many different freight carriers you may have used through PartnerShip.

You can also request a personalized Savings Report from PartnerShip.com for your company. Simply choose a monthly or yearly report type and click —submit. A PartnerShip representative will then provide you with a customized report showing you how much you've saved off of the carrier's base rates during that period of time.

There you have it! You've completed the shipping process and are ready to send another one! Remember, PartnerShip is always here to help you at any stage and with any type of shipment you may need to send. If you haven't already, be sure to click the below button to subscribe to the PartnerShip Connection Blog so you get future updates and tips.