4 replies to this topic

[Rassmutten]

Our warehouse recently had a truck try to deliver a load with the incorrect seal. The warehouse staff did what they were supposed to do and contacted their boss. Their boss allowed the truck to be unloaded but still kept segregated from the other inventory because

#1 The product (flexible packaging to be made into food bags) looked to be in good condition.

#2 He was unable to get immediate answers from the trucking company about what happened with the seal change.

#3 He was unable to hold the driver. 

Immediately a risk assessment was done which found the product to be fine and while doing so the tag issue was sorted out. 

 

This got me thinking that there is only so much a Risk Assessment can do and at some point, you either have to take the word of the trucking company or not. They can send a Corrective Action but that doesn't mean what is written is really what took place. Thinking worst case scenario, If I owned this company, I would turn this shipment away at the door and have the product destroyed because there is no way for me to be absolutely positive the product is untampered. There is no way for me to test for all pesticides, toxins, poisons, bacteria etc. Corporate espionage is real. One tampered with truck load could put a company out of business. This situation turned out to be a simple paperwork issue but what if it had not been?

 

Who would take the financial hit? Would the trucking company have insurance for it considering it was their employee that made a mistake? I still need the trucking company so I can't go making enemies with them. Has anybody else had a situation like this?

[SQFconsultant]

"Corporate espionage is real"

 

Yes, it certainly is.

 

Some years back we did a lot of work with shipping fraud situations - it can get very elaborate or very simple like not putting the exact tag back into place.

 

We have a new DC that places a tag and each time snaps a photo that our office gets - if there is no matchup we won't even open the truck up, we just refuse it.  Fortunately that has only been once and we replaced the trucking company because they were playing games/

[G M]

...

Who would take the financial hit? Would the trucking company have insurance for it considering it was their employee that made a mistake? I still need the trucking company so I can't go making enemies with them. Has anybody else had a situation like this?

 

Who takes responsibility comes down to the exact terms of your contracts, and who has fulfilled their side of the agreements.  If it is big enough, or easily disputed, you can expect it to go to court or other legal channels to be decided.

[jfrey123]

We get loads missing seals more often than I would want to see, considering we're dealing with 12 facilities and over 150 total suppliers.  We go through an interview with the driver when there is a seal issue (missing, broken, mislabeled, etc.) and then verify as much as we can with the supplier.  We've had a few cases where the wrong seal(s) were placed at the wrong stop of a multi-stop trip, easily correctable and often you'll see the wrong seal handwritten on records of the prior stop.  It's possible to connect the dots and determine there isn't a risk associated with a specific event, but you'll want to have this process of what's acceptable and rejectable written into your SOP.  It shouldn't be on the whim of whomever is on duty that day.

 

Then, when you have a solid, robust program surrounding trailer security involving serialized trailer seals, you get to write the section about LTL shipping and throw all your stern rules right out the window.  You're lucky when the trailers are padlocked from the prior stop down the street, and good luck getting them to guarantee the next stop isn't an automotive lubricant or poison distribution warehouse.

[GMO]

Let me explain what can happen.

 

Once I was working in a factory and it was reported some packaging was "wet" with "yellow liquid".

 

Now think back...  there was a missing seal which wasn't escalated.  

 

I put on hold every product made with that batch of packaging and all packaging in that load.

 

What had probably happened?  Someone had broken into the lorry.  Probably to enter the UK.  No comment on here on the ethics of all of that both for the person entering the UK and the haulier, this is not the purposes of this website.  But desperate people do desperate things.  And, if you're on a long journey, you will need somewhere to relieve yourself.  This person or people did so on my packaging into a hollow made by the covering film.

 

So I would always make sure that tags on and matching the code is part of your supplier agreement and if they're not there, it's rejected.  At the haulier expense.