YardPermit

Moving-day checklist

On moving day the useful documents are the bill of lading and the inventory. Both are required by regulation, and both are where a problem gets recorded or lost.

DueRiva · checked against sources Sep 12, 2026

Before loading: the bill of lading

A mover must prepare and issue a bill of lading before it receives your shipment, and it must contain 17 items, among them the mover’s legal or trade name as registered with FMCSA with its physical address, the names and USDOT numbers of any other carriers that will take part when known, the form of payment honored at delivery, the agreed pickup and delivery dates or periods, the maximum amount that will be demanded at delivery on a collect-on-delivery move, the valuation statement, and the estimate and the inventory as attachments (49 CFR 375.505).

Read those items against the estimate before signing. The payment terms must be the same as on the estimate, and the services on the estimate are incorporated by reference, so anything the estimate promised should be there.

Before loading: the inventory

The mover must prepare a written, itemized inventory identifying every carton and every uncartoned item, with an identification number on each article, before or at loading and in a way that lets you observe and verify it if you ask. You are entitled to a copy signed by both of you, together with a copy of the bill of lading, before or at loading (49 CFR 375.503).

Walk it with the crew. Have the condition of anything already scratched or worn written on the inventory, and do not sign one that is blank or incomplete.

The crew and the truck

Match the crew’s paperwork to the bill of lading: the registered name and the USDOT number. If a second carrier’s USDOT number appears among the participating carriers, that is the company hauling the goods, and it is the number to look up in Mover Check. A photograph of the marked truck and of the signed documents costs nothing.

At delivery

The mover must give you the opportunity to check that the same articles are delivered and to see their condition, to note in writing any missing, damaged or destroyed items, and to receive a copy of those notes (49 CFR 375.503). Write the exceptions before the crew leaves.

Payment is limited by the estimate type: the exact estimate on a binding estimate, 110 percent on a non-binding one, plus services requested after the bill of lading and impracticable operations up to 15 percent of the other charges due (49 CFR 375.703). Once you have paid that amount on a non-binding move, the mover must release the shipment (49 CFR 375.407), and it must accept the form of payment written on the estimate and the bill of lading.

Afterwards

The mover must keep the inventory for at least a year as part of the bill of lading contract, so ask for it if you need it later (49 CFR 375.503). A refusal to release goods, a demand above the limit, or lost and damaged items that go unanswered can be reported to FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database.

Sources