subject: The Legal Status Of Your Courier [print this page] If you've never worked with a particular Seattle courier service before, you may have some questions about how they run their operation. One element of their business that you might be justifiably concerned about is how they operate their business on a legal basis. Obviously you're not going to want to entrust your valuable property to someone that is not running their business in the most upright and legal way possible, so there are some questions that you can ask which can quickly paint you a picture of how their business is being run.
One of the first things that you might want to ask about is their hiring practices. Keep in mind that no matter how well the office is run, it is always the drivers in the field that are going to actually be responsible for your packages. That means that companies which use good screening processes and which always issue background and criminal record checks are more likely to have trustworthy employees.
A natural extension from this method of thinking is investigating the training processes that your courier company uses. All fully legal courier companies should have some sort of training program in place. They should be making sure that all drivers are participating in D.O.T. Safety courses. If they are doing this, then you can be sure that your packages are in pretty safe hands.
Insurance is another area of the legal end of the business that you should always ask about. That is because this is perhaps the one area that can most directly affect you, because it is always more likely that your package might sustain some accidental damage than it will be affected due to other legalities within the operation of the company.
Ask your courier company both what kinds of insurance they carry, and what the coverage amounts are. They should at the very least have not only all their vehicles insured, but should also be carrying courier insurance which covers the value of the goods they are shipping. You need to make sure that the value of that insurance is more than the value of your packages; otherwise you may need to buy extra insurance if you still want to ship with them. Another type of insurance that they probably should be carrying, but which is not absolutely necessary is employee bonding. This protects against theft either by employees or which is facilitated by employees.
