Free tool · Bill of lading
A bill of lading you can fill in and print right now.
The standard straight bill of lading used across US LTL freight, complete on the page. No account, no email address, nothing uploaded. Underneath it: what the regulation actually requires on one, and the sentence to write in the exception box before you sign for a delivery that is short.
Straight bill of lading
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Bill of Lading
Not negotiable
Ship from
Ship to
Third party freight charges bill to
Carrier
Freight charge terms
Customer order information
| Customer order no. | No. of packages | Weight | Pallet / slip | Additional shipper info | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand total |
Carrier information
| Handling qty | Type | Package qty | Type | Weight | H.M. | Commodity description | NMFC no. | Class | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand total | |||||||||
Where the rate depends on value, shippers must state in writing the agreed or declared value of the property. Any line marked H.M. must be described in accordance with 49 CFR 172.101.
Special instructions
Declared value and COD
COD fee terms
Received, subject to individually determined rates or contracts that have been agreed upon in writing between the carrier and shipper, the property described above in apparent good order except as noted. The carrier acknowledges receipt of packages and required placards. The property described above is received in apparent good order except as noted on this bill of lading.
Trailer loaded by
Freight counted by
Shipper signature and date
Carrier signature and pickup date
One sheet of paper doing three jobs at once
Most of the trouble people have with a bill of lading comes from thinking of it as paperwork. It is three separate legal instruments printed on the same page, and each one bites at a different moment.
A receipt
The carrier's acknowledgement that it took this many packages, of this description, in this apparent condition. Signed with nothing noted, that becomes evidence the freight left in good order.
A contract of carriage
The terms on which the freight moves: who pays, at what rate, on what liability. Signing it binds you to the tariff it references, whether or not anyone read the tariff.
Sometimes, title
Only if it is an order bill. Then it represents the goods themselves and can be sold, endorsed or pledged while the trailer is still moving.
The receipt job is the one that decides arguments. Everything in the exception section further down is about protecting it.
What the regulation actually requires
Less than the forms suggest. For a for-hire, non-exempt motor carrier moving property in interstate or foreign commerce, 49 CFR § 373.101 names five items and stops:
- 01Names of consignor and consignee.
- 02Origin and destination points.
- 03Number of packages.
- 04Description of freight.
- 05Weight, volume, or measurement of freight, if that is applicable to the rating of the freight.
Every other box on a standard form: SCAC, pro number, NMFC, freight class, seal number, trailer number: is there because the freight business needs it to rate, route and audit the shipment. Useful, and worth completing, but not what the regulation is asking for.
There is also a release valve most people have never read. Under § 373.105, a carrier and shipper may agree to waive all of it for low value packages, and the regulation offers a sensible test for where that line sits: an invoice value at or below what it would cost to prepare a loss or damage claim. That is the reason a parcel moving under a courier label needs no bill of lading, and the reason a pallet of finished goods does.
Straight, order, or house: pick the right one before you print
Three names cover almost everything a small manufacturer or distributor will ever issue, and they are not interchangeable.
| Kind | Goods go to | Negotiable | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight | A named consignee | No | Almost always. The buyer is known, the goods are already paid for or on account, and nobody is trading the shipment in transit. |
| Order | The order of a consignee | Yes | Payment depends on the document. The consignee surrenders an endorsed original to take delivery, which is how a bank or a letter of credit keeps a grip on the goods. |
| House | A named consignee, issued by a forwarder | Either | A freight forwarder or NVOCC has consolidated your shipment with others. Yours is the house bill; the master bill covers the whole container. |
The distinction is statutory rather than stylistic. Under 49 U.S.C. § 80103, a bill is negotiable if it says the goods are to be delivered to the order of a consignee, and nonnegotiable if it simply says they are to be delivered to a consignee. Endorsing a nonnegotiable bill transfers nothing.
The same section carries a requirement that free templates almost universally miss: a common carrier issuing a nonnegotiable bill must put nonnegotiable or not negotiable on the bill. The form on this page carries that marking already.
The four fields that cost money when they are wrong
Most boxes on a bill of lading are administrative. These four turn into invoices, re-bills and denied claims.
Freight class and NMFC number
Class is derived from density, stowability, handling and liability, and the NMFC number identifies the commodity the class was taken from. Guess low and the carrier re-weighs, re-classes and re-bills you weeks later, usually with an inspection fee attached. If you do not know the class, ask the carrier before the truck arrives rather than writing an optimistic number.
Freight charge terms
Prepaid means the shipper pays, collect means the consignee pays, third party means somebody else does and their details have to be on the bill. This single choice sends the invoice, and the most common freight billing dispute in small distribution is a collect shipment that should have been prepaid, discovered a month later by whoever received the bill.
Declared value
Where the rate depends on value, the shipper is required to state the agreed or declared value in writing. Leaving it blank does not give you unlimited coverage. It leaves the shipment on the carrier's released rate, which for ordinary freight can be a few dollars a pound, and a pallet of electronics settled by the pound is not a settlement.
Hazardous material marking
If any line is hazardous it must be marked and described in accordance with 49 CFR 172.101, in the proper sequence, with the shipping name, hazard class, identification number and packing group. This is one of the few places on the form where getting it wrong is a regulatory problem rather than a commercial one.
The section the templates leave out
What to write before you sign for it
A bill of lading signed with nothing noted on it is a clean bill. Clean means the freight was received in apparent good order, and that is evidence, the kind that is very hard to argue with three weeks later when somebody opens the third pallet.
So the thirty seconds before the driver leaves are worth more than everything else on this page. Write what is wrong, on the delivery receipt or the bill of lading, and be specific enough that the note means something to a person who was not standing there.
Worth writing
- Short 2 cartons of 40, PO 4471, driver agrees count.
- Pallet 3 of 5, corner crushed, top 4 cartons stoved in, photographed at 14:20.
- Seal number does not match BOL. BOL 88214, actual 88241.
- Carton 12 wet on underside, contents not inspected.
Not worth writing
- Subject to inspection. It notes nothing and a carrier will treat it as a clean signature.
- Possible damage. Either there is visible damage or there is not; write what you can see.
- Short. How many, of what, against which order?
- Nothing at all, because the driver is in a hurry. That hurry is not your liability to absorb.
Then the part almost nobody knows. Writing the exception is not filing a claim. 49 CFR § 370.3(c) is explicit that bad order reports, inspection reports, and notations of shortage or damage on freight bills or delivery receipts do not, standing alone, satisfy the claim filing requirements.
A claim has to be a written communication that identifies the shipment, asserts the carrier is liable, and asks for a specific or determinable amount of money. All three. A note on the delivery receipt does the first and part of the second and none of the third, which is how people who did everything right at the bay still get a denial letter ten months later.
The clock is generous but finite: 49 U.S.C. § 14706(e) stops a carrier setting less than nine months to file, and less than two years to sue after it disallows the claim in writing. Concealed damage is the exception that ruins people, because the tariff usually gives you days rather than months to report something you found after opening the box.
This describes how the rules generally work in the United States and links to the primary sources so you can read them yourself. It is not legal advice, and your contract with a carrier can change the detail. For money that matters, ask a lawyer.
Filling it in, in order
- 01
Fill in both parties and the addresses
Enter the shipper and consignee names with full addresses. These, plus origin and destination, are the first two of the five items 49 CFR 373.101 requires.
- 02
Add the customer order numbers
List each purchase order in the shipment with its package count and weight. This is the column the receiving end matches against, so the numbers here should be the ones on their order.
- 03
Describe the freight for the carrier
Enter handling units, package counts, weight, a plain commodity description, the NMFC number and freight class. Tick H.M. on any line carrying hazardous material and describe it in accordance with 49 CFR 172.101.
- 04
Set the freight charge terms
Choose prepaid, collect or third party, and add the third party details if somebody else is paying. Getting this wrong is the single most common cause of a freight invoice going to the wrong company.
- 05
State the declared value if the rate depends on it
Where the rate depends on value, the shipper has to state the agreed or declared value in writing. Leaving it blank does not raise the carrier's liability; it leaves you on the released rate.
- 06
Print three copies and get it signed
Print or save as PDF. One copy stays with the shipper, one with the driver, one with the consignee. Keep the signed shipper copy.
What to keep, and for how long
Keep the signed copy, not the one you printed. The document that settles an argument is the one carrying the carrier’s signature and whatever was written on it at the bay, and a pristine unsigned printout proves only what you intended to ship.
Two years is a reasonable working minimum, because that is the floor on bringing a civil action after a claim is disallowed. Most companies keep them longer for tax and audit reasons anyway. Photograph anything you note an exception about, at the bay, before the pallet is broken down, a timestamped photograph alongside a specific written exception is close to unarguable, and either one alone is not.
Questions
- Is this bill of lading form free?
- Yes. Fill it in on the page and print it or save it as a PDF. There is no account, no email address and no watermark, and nothing you type is sent anywhere: the draft is held in your own browser so a reload does not lose it, and the Clear button removes it.
- What is legally required on a bill of lading?
- For a for-hire motor carrier moving freight in interstate commerce, 49 CFR 373.101 requires five things: the names of consignor and consignee, the origin and destination points, the number of packages, a description of the freight, and its weight, volume or measurement where that affects the rating. Everything else on a standard form is there because the trade needs it, not because the regulation names it.
- What is the difference between a straight bill of lading and an order bill?
- A straight bill says the goods go to a named consignee, and endorsing it transfers nothing. An order bill says the goods go to the order of a consignee, which makes it negotiable and effectively a document of title that can be sold or pledged in transit. Under 49 U.S.C. 80103 a carrier issuing a nonnegotiable bill has to mark it nonnegotiable or not negotiable on its face. The form above is a straight bill and carries that marking.
- Who fills in the bill of lading, the shipper or the carrier?
- The shipper prepares it and the carrier signs for what it receives. In practice that means the description, count, weight, class and any special instructions are yours to get right, and the driver's signature is the carrier acknowledging it took that. A carrier that disagrees with the count should note the difference rather than sign a document it thinks is wrong.
- How many copies of the bill of lading do I need?
- Three is the working answer: one stays with the shipper, one travels with the driver, and one goes to the consignee. If a third party is paying the freight they will want one too. Keep the shipper copy with the signature on it, because that signed copy is the version that matters if anything is later disputed.
- What do I write on the bill of lading if the delivery is short or damaged?
- Write what is wrong, specifically, on the delivery receipt or bill of lading before you sign it: how many pieces are missing, which ones, and what the damage looks like. Signing with no exception noted creates a clean bill, which is evidence the goods arrived in apparent good order. Note that the exception is not itself a claim: 49 CFR 370.3(c) says a shortage or damage notation, standing alone, does not meet the claim filing requirements. You still have to file in writing.
- How long do I have to file a freight claim?
- At least nine months from delivery, and at least two years to sue after the carrier disallows the claim in writing. Those are floors set by 49 U.S.C. 14706(e): a carrier cannot contract for less, though it can offer more. Concealed damage is the case that catches people out, because the tariff usually gives you a much shorter window, often five to fifteen days, to report something you only found after opening the carton.
- Do I need a bill of lading for a small parcel?
- Usually not. Parcel carriers work from their own label and tracking rather than a bill of lading, and 49 CFR 373.105 lets a carrier and shipper agree to waive the documentation for low value packages, suggesting the line sits roughly where the invoice value drops below what a claim would cost to prepare. Bills of lading belong to LTL and truckload freight.
Sources
- 0149 CFR § 373.101: For-hire, non-exempt motor carrier bills of lading · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThe five items a motor carrier's bill of lading must contain, plus the low value waiver at § 373.105.
- 0249 U.S.C. § 80103: Negotiable and nonnegotiable bills · U.S. CodeDefines the order bill and requires a nonnegotiable bill to say so on its face.
- 0349 U.S.C. § 14706: Liability of carriers under receipts and bills of lading · U.S. CodeThe Carmack Amendment. Subsection (e) sets the nine month claim floor and the two year floor for suit.
- 0449 CFR § 370.3: Filing of claims · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsSets what a claim must contain, and says a shortage note on a delivery receipt is not one.
- 0549 CFR § 172.101: Purpose and use of the hazardous materials table · Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsHow a hazardous line has to be described on shipping papers.
The exception you write at the bay only helps if somebody can find it later, against the right purchase order. DockCount records what arrived against what was ordered, on a phone, at the pallet. Free for 25 deliveries a month.