Free bill of lading template, filled in and ready to print
A free bill of lading template you fill in and download as a print-ready PDF. No sign-up, no email, nothing sent anywhere. Built for LTL freight rather than adapted from a generic office document, which means it has the boxes a driver and a carrier actually look for.
Header
Ship from
Ship to
Carrier and charges
Freight
1 units · 0 lb total
Accessorial services
Tick what was quoted. A service agreed on the phone and missing from the bill of lading is the commonest way a driver refuses it at the door, and a service performed that was never written down is the commonest way it appears on the invoice unquoted.
Why a generic BOL template costs you money
Most free bill of lading templates online are office documents: a table, some address boxes, a signature line. They look right and they are missing the three fields that decide what you are charged.
The class. The carrier rates the shipment on what is declared here. Leave it blank and somebody else decides, usually on the dock, usually not in your favour.
The accessorial boxes. A liftgate agreed on the phone and absent from the bill of lading is a liftgate the driver can decline to provide. A liftgate provided but never written down is one that appears on the invoice with nothing to compare it to.
The piece count. The driver signs for a number of handling units. If the document says four pallets and five leave your dock, the fifth has no paperwork behind it, and that is the one that goes missing.
What the three signatures actually do
A bill of lading is signed three times and each signature does a different job, which is worth knowing before the third one is the one you need.
The shipper signs to certify that the articles are described properly and in apparent good order. The carrier signs on collection, acknowledging receipt of a specific number of pieces: that signature is your receipt, and a clean one for four pallets is worth more than any email. The consignee signs on delivery, and this is the one people give away. Anything wrong with the shipment has to be noted on that line, at that moment. A clear signature followed by a phone call an hour later is a much weaker position than a signature with a shortage noted beside it.
A bill of lading is not a packing slip
They travel together and they answer to different people. A packing slip tells the receiver what is inside the cartons. A bill of lading is the contract of carriage: the receipt for the freight, the description it is rated on, and the document a claim is argued from. A carrier has no interest in your packing slip, and a packing slip proves nothing about what left your dock.
Print three
One goes with the driver. One stays with you, signed by the driver, which is the copy that settles a shortage argument. One travels with the freight for the consignee. It is the oldest advice in the trade and it is still the reason some companies win claims and others explain why they cannot.
If you do not have your class yet, the freight class calculator gives it from the dimensions and weight before you fill this in, and where to find your NMFC item covers the number beside it. To get the shipment quoted properly in the first place, the shipment description builder puts the same information in front of every carrier at once.