Bill of Lading

The BOL, signed at the door and filed before the truck moves.

Zip builds the Bill of Lading from the job the customer already agreed to, your crew gets it signed on a phone at the house, and it stores itself against the job. No carbon books in the cab, no forms to transcribe at the yard, and no missing paperwork when a claim arrives six weeks later.

20 minutes · No sales pressure

Why the paperwork stops being a problem

Signed where the job is

The crew captures the customer's signature on the phone already in their pocket, at the door, before anything is loaded. Nothing depends on a pen, a clipboard, or a form surviving the day in a truck cab.

Built from what was already agreed

The BOL carries the inventory and terms from the estimate the customer signed, so the document matches the job that was sold. Re-typing it is where the mistakes that lose claims come from.

Findable when a claim arrives

Signed paperwork files itself against the job. When a customer calls about a scratched dresser two months later, you open the job and read what was recorded at pickup — rather than searching a filing cabinet for a page nobody can find.

What Zip's Bill of Lading does

One document that the office, the crew and the customer are all looking at the same version of.

Generated from the job, not from a blank form

The inventory, addresses, dates, crew and agreed price flow through from the estimate. The crew adds what changed on the day rather than writing the whole thing out.

  • Room-by-room inventory carried from the estimate
  • Condition and exceptions noted per item on site
  • Addresses, dates and crew filled in already

Signed on a phone or tablet, by everyone who needs to

Customer signature at origin and at delivery, captured on the device the crew already has. The customer gets their copy by email the moment it is signed.

  • E-signature at pickup and at delivery
  • Customer emailed a copy automatically
  • Works on the crew's own iPhone or Android

Stored against the job, permanently

Every signed document lives on the job record with the quote, the schedule and the payment. If you ever leave Zip you keep lifetime read-only access to all of it.

  • Signed BOL attached to the job it belongs to
  • Searchable by customer, date or job number
  • Read-only access to your history kept for good

Questions about the Bill of Lading

What is a Bill of Lading in moving?

The Bill of Lading is the contract between a moving company and its customer for a specific move. It records what is being moved, from where to where, on what terms, and at what price, and it is the document a damage or loss claim is settled against. For household goods moves it is legally required in most states, and interstate movers must issue one under federal rules.

Can a Bill of Lading be signed digitally?

Yes. Electronic signatures on a Bill of Lading are valid under the federal E-SIGN Act and equivalent state law, and digital BOLs are now standard practice across the moving industry. In Zip the customer signs on the crew's phone or tablet at the job and is emailed a copy immediately.

Do I need Bill of Lading software, or will a paper book do?

A carbon book works, right up until you need a specific page. The reasons movers move off paper are practical rather than technological: forms get lost or damaged in the truck, the office spends evenings transcribing them, and a claim two months after the job depends on finding one sheet of paper. Digital BOLs remove all three problems, and the document is created from the job rather than written out again. If you are still on paper, Zip's free Bill of Lading generator produces a complete, printable BOL with no account.

Does the Bill of Lading cost extra on Zip?

No. Every feature is on every Zip plan, including the digital BOL, e-signatures and document storage. Plans differ only by how many jobs you complete in a month.

Can I customise the Bill of Lading for my company?

Yes — your company details, branding and standard terms sit on the document, so what the customer signs looks like it came from your business. The inventory and job details are filled in from the job itself.

Try it on your next move.

Request a demo and a real person walks you through Zip — most movers are quoting, booking, and getting paid within the hour of switching.

20 minutes · No sales pressure