This is an area where the shipping community has overlooked an opportunity to assure delivery from carriers for carrier service failures

Shippers in recent years have become more aggressive in demanding faster service at lower cost. However, they have failed to recognize the cost to carriers for providing proof of delivery. Proof-of-delivery requests after the first 30 days following delivery are initiated for reasons other than the carrier's failure to deliver the parcel.

Since shippers want to collect accounts receivable within 30 to 60 days after delivery, there's no reason why shippers can't work with a reduced period for both POD and claim filing.

The cost savings will benefit the shipper as follows:

• Administrative cost for this service, offered at an extra charge. Negotiable.
• Accounts receivable personnel within shipper's organizations would become more disciplined in collecting revenue for products delivered in shorter time frame.
• The shipper's dockworkers and customer service personnel would have a greater sense of urgency in dealing with a questionable delivery.

Electronic Proof of Delivery is now available through our Track & Trace module. When you send an item using Next Day Delivery or First Overnight Delivery, we can confirm when your item arrives and, within 72 hours of delivery, will also show you an electronic image of the signature scanned from the actual card that is signed when your item is delivered.

The image you will see is a section of the Proof Of Delivery , and will include the details of who received the item upon delivery. It will look similar to the image below.

1. The time of day the item was delivered.
2. The printed name of the person who received the item.
3. The signature of the person who received the item.