Published September 23, 2026 · By Hawk Lane Tech
A small carrier usually does not lose a proof of delivery because nobody took the photo. The photo exists. It is in a driver’s camera roll, a group text, or an email thread that also contains three other loads. When a broker or shipper asks for it weeks later, the office has to remember which thread. This guide is a filing habit that prevents that hunt. It is not a second product page for proof-of-delivery software, and it is not legal advice about how long you must keep a file.
Start with the papers a load actually produces
For a typical US truckload, three files matter more than a perfect folder tree:
- Rate confirmation. What you agreed to haul, the rate, and the pickup and delivery.
- Bill of lading (BOL). The shipping paper that identifies the freight and travels with it. FMCSA’s inspection guidance lists shipping papers or bills of lading among the documents a driver may need to produce. For household-goods moves, FMCSA describes the bill of lading as the contract between the customer and the mover and says a copy must go with the shipment. General freight uses a BOL as the shipping document too; the household-goods rules are not a template for every load.
- Proof of delivery (POD). The delivery receipt, or the signed copy, showing the freight was received. On a household-goods move, FMCSA expects the customer to sign a delivery receipt, and that receipt must not be used to wipe out the mover’s liability. On other freight, the POD is often a signed BOL or a separate delivery receipt. Either way, it is evidence of delivery, not a substitute for the rate confirmation.
Receipts, lumper tickets and photos of damage belong on the same load when they affect billing or a claim. They do not need their own filing system.
Sources: FMCSA, documents for a vehicle or driver inspection; FMCSA, household-goods bill of lading; FMCSA, household-goods delivery receipt.
Attach every file to one load
Use one identifier you already have: the load number, the trip number, or the pro number. When a document arrives, put that identifier in the file name before anyone files it, for example LD-10482_2026-09-23_POD. Then attach the file to that load. Do not file it under a person’s name, and do not leave the only copy in a shared album.
- Create or open the load before the truck is dispatched.
- Save the rate confirmation on that load when the freight is booked.
- Add the BOL when the driver picks up, or as soon as the office receives the scan.
- Add the POD when delivery is confirmed. If the driver uploads it from the cab, it should land on the assigned load, not in a general inbox.
- If a page is missing, note it on the load while the driver is still easy to reach.
In Hawk Lane Carrier TMS, load-related documents such as rate confirmations, BOLs and PODs can be kept with the correct load so dispatch and billing are looking at the same record. That is the product behavior described on carrier TMS for small fleets. Driver upload of the POD and BOL from the app is on Growth, Pro and Custom. The Free plan covers core browser dispatch and documents for up to 3 trucks and does not include the driver app, so the office uploads those files in the browser until the fleet moves to a plan with the app. The capture workflow itself is on proof of delivery software for trucking companies. This article does not replace that page.
Hawk Lane does not generate an electronic bill of lading for you. You upload the BOL you already use.
Find an old POD when a customer asks
Ask for three facts before you open a folder: the load or trip number, the pickup or delivery date, and the customer or lane. Open that load and read the documents attached to it. Send the POD from that record.
If the file was never attached, the load cannot produce it. Then you are back to the camera roll, the text thread and the inbox, matching the date and the cities by hand. The point of the workflow above is to make that the exception.
What this lookup is not: Hawk Lane has not published a full-text search across every old file, a guarantee that a missing POD can be recovered, or a storage period such as “years of history.” Opening the load shows the files that were attached to it. If you need a customer to download documents themselves, that is a separate visibility question. Confirm what your plan actually shares before you promise a portal.
The same habit in Australia and India
This is one filing habit, not a different product in each country. The names on the paperwork change.
Australian operators often talk about the consignment and the proof of delivery on the job. Hawk Lane’s Australian pages describe POD and delivery documents stored on that job inside Australian Carrier TMS. Driver-app capture is on Growth, Pro and eligible Custom plans. The Free plan includes core web TMS and document management, not the driver app. Details of that capture stay on the Australian proof of delivery page. Hawk Lane does not claim an NHVR-approved document or a compliance outcome.
Indian transport companies often keep a lorry receipt (LR) or bilty with the trip, plus a POD. Hawk Lane stores the documents you upload against the trip. Office staff can upload on any plan. Drivers can upload POD images from the driver app on paid and eligible Custom plans. The trip record is described on trip management for Indian fleets, and plan limits sit on transport management software for Indian transport companies. Hawk Lane does not generate an LR or a bilty, and it does not offer electronic signature, OTP delivery confirmation or geotagged proof of delivery.
Included today, and what would be custom
Included in the TMS workflow above: upload a document or image and keep it on the load or trip it belongs to, with driver-app upload only on the plans named on those pages.
Not an included feature: software that reads a POD, extracts the fields, matches it to a load by itself, promises you will find every old file, or creates an eBOL. Hawk Lane can deliver AI-enabled custom software using AWS Bedrock and other AI technology. If you want a workflow that suggests which load a submitted file belongs to, that is a custom TMS project to discuss. A proposed custom workflow should include human review of AI suggestions. It is not switched on with Carrier TMS, and this article is not a quote for that work.
How long to keep the file
Check the requirements that apply to each record and to your operation. A customer contract, a tax rule and a regulation can set different periods, so do not copy one number from a blog and apply it to every POD. Ask the person who handles your compliance before you delete anything.
Hawk Lane does not set your retention schedule, does not certify that a file meets a legal hold, and does not claim the product is a compliance archive.