The scope and timing considerations of the ship notice transaction
Within the retail industry, the scope of the ship notice cannot exceed the contents of the associated Bill of Lading for a buyer’s ship to location. There can be more than one ship notice referencing the same Bill of Lading, but one ship notice cannot reference more than one Bill of Lading. Each full truck load (TL) requires a separate Bill of Lading and therefore, a separate Ship Notice/Manifest.
Timing
Ideally, the Ship Notice/Manifest should be transmitted by the shipper after the doors are closed on the truck. The buyer needs to receive and process the data before the physical shipment arrives at the receiving location. Therefore, the latest time the ship notice may be sent is the time of shipment. In practice, the ship notice must arrive before the shipment.
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