Proof of delivery (POD)
Proof of delivery (POD) is a signed or digitally captured confirmation that a shipment reached its consignee, recording what was delivered, when, and in what condition. The form varies: a signature on the delivery receipt, a photo, a geotagged scan, or an e-signature. POD closes the carrier's custody of the freight and serves as controlling evidence in damage claims, shortage disputes, and on-time-delivery measurement.
Examples
Notation preserving a claim: A receiver counts 38 of 40 cartons of gaskets and notes the two-carton shortage on the POD before signing. The $640 claim settles within 30 days because liability is undisputed; an identical shortage signed clean at a sister plant turns into a concealed-loss claim that is denied 4 months later.
Invoice dispute: A distributor refuses to pay an $18,400 invoice, claiming non-delivery. The supplier produces a geotagged POD photo showing 12 pallets at the customer's dock at 9:42 a.m. with the receiving clerk's e-signature; payment clears in the next run.
OTIF correction: A buyer scores a fastener supplier at 91 percent OTIF across 160 monthly deliveries. The supplier audits the 14 misses and shows that 11 had on-time POD timestamps keyed into the buyer's system a day late; the corrected score is 98 percent.
Definition
If the bill of lading opens the carrier's custody of freight, the POD closes it. What the receiver records in that moment carries real weight: noting a crushed carton or a missing pallet at delivery preserves the claim almost automatically, while a clean signature converts later discovery into a concealed-damage claim with a short reporting window and a far heavier burden of proof. Receiving clerks who sign before counting are signing away the claim.
PODs also settle money disputes. When a customer withholds payment claiming non-delivery, accounts receivable pulls the POD; when a carrier bills for a move, freight payment matches the invoice against it. The POD's timestamp and received quantities are also the raw data behind OTIF scoring, so a supplier's delivery performance is only as accurate as the POD capture underneath it.
Capture has moved from paper to electronic: a photo, a geotag, an e-signature on the driver's device. That is standard in last mile delivery and spreading through freight, and it changes timing as much as format. An electronic POD flows into track and trace within minutes, closing the order, triggering invoicing, and ending the where-is-it phase of a dispute before it starts.
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