Sunday, 5 October 2008
Cartons or Livelihood
An area we encourage in our staff meetings and training is understanding the difference between moving clients cartons around the would Vs moving clients livelihoods.
I recall my early days in this industry, before my greying hair and expanding waistline, not really understanding what a carton going missing or damage meant to the client. The terminology I recall in the office was typically 10 cartons rather than 10 cartons containing 600 shirts needed for an order next week.
I was never encouraged to meet or understand the clients business and therefore I did not truly understand I was not just moving cartons but someones livelihood. I also did not understand insurance does not replace our clients losing an order and perhaps losing their client.
This hit home to me when, probably about 25 years ago, I saw a client in tears because a shipment had been lost in transit and she would lose an important order. Although sad for the client it was a great lesson for me and I would rather we train our staff to do 'more than anyone else to support our clients livelihood' than just move cartons.
Anyway the reason for me sharing this story from my past was no matter how much care is taken, unfortunately disaster can happen and it is very important that clients have adequate insurance in place, as most logistics companies conduct business using trading conditions that limit their legal liability.
To highlight this I can share a summary from a recent UK court case where an importer sought to recover £2,252,460 from their Forwarder for the theft, apparently by employees, of cell phones from the Forwarder's premises. The English High Court held the Forwarder vicariously liable for wilful default and negligence but further ruled that the BIFA Standard Terms and Conditions applied and limited liability to approx £25,000.
I recall my early days in this industry, before my greying hair and expanding waistline, not really understanding what a carton going missing or damage meant to the client. The terminology I recall in the office was typically 10 cartons rather than 10 cartons containing 600 shirts needed for an order next week.
I was never encouraged to meet or understand the clients business and therefore I did not truly understand I was not just moving cartons but someones livelihood. I also did not understand insurance does not replace our clients losing an order and perhaps losing their client.
This hit home to me when, probably about 25 years ago, I saw a client in tears because a shipment had been lost in transit and she would lose an important order. Although sad for the client it was a great lesson for me and I would rather we train our staff to do 'more than anyone else to support our clients livelihood' than just move cartons.
Anyway the reason for me sharing this story from my past was no matter how much care is taken, unfortunately disaster can happen and it is very important that clients have adequate insurance in place, as most logistics companies conduct business using trading conditions that limit their legal liability.
To highlight this I can share a summary from a recent UK court case where an importer sought to recover £2,252,460 from their Forwarder for the theft, apparently by employees, of cell phones from the Forwarder's premises. The English High Court held the Forwarder vicariously liable for wilful default and negligence but further ruled that the BIFA Standard Terms and Conditions applied and limited liability to approx £25,000.
Labels: Freight, Insurance, Service
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