Short answer
The consignee is the person or company named on the bill of lading as the party the freight is to be delivered to. The consignor is the party the carrier received the freight from, which is usually the shipper. The consignee signs for the freight at delivery, notes any shortage or damage, and pays the freight charges when the shipment moves collect.
Consignee is one of those words that everyone in freight uses and few people stop to define. It matters because it’s a role on a legal document. Whoever is named in that box has rights to the freight and, in some cases, a bill to pay. This post covers the definition, the terms it gets confused with, who pays, and what a consignee has to do when the truck arrives.
The legal definition of a consignee
The federal law on bills of lading, 49 U.S.C. 80101, defines both sides in one line each. A consignee is “the person named in a bill of lading as the person to whom the goods are to be delivered.” A consignor is “the person named in a bill of lading as the person from whom the goods have been received for shipment.”
The Uniform Commercial Code, which states adopt as their own commercial law, says nearly the same thing: a consignee is “a person named in a bill of lading to which or to whose order the bill promises delivery.”
Both definitions turn on the document. You’re the consignee because the bill of lading names you, whether or not you own the goods.
Consignee vs. consignor vs. shipper, and the other names on the bill
| Term | Who it is | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Consignor | The party the carrier received the freight from. Estes’ glossary calls it a “synonym for shipper” | The ship-from or shipper box |
| Shipper | In everyday use, the same as the consignor. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, the shipper is the party that contracts with the carrier, which can be a different company from the one at the pickup dock | The ship-from or shipper box |
| Consignee | The party named to receive delivery | The ship-to or consignee box |
| Bill-to or third party | The party that pays when neither the shipper nor the consignee does. Old Dominion defines it as the party “to whom freight charges are billed which is neither the shipper nor the consignee” | The bill-to box |
| Notify party | Someone the carrier tells when the cargo arrives. Mostly an ocean and import term. Flexport notes it’s usually a customs broker or freight forwarder | Ocean bills of lading |
| Receiver | The everyday word for the dock that unloads the truck. Usually the consignee. It has no legal definition | Dispatch notes and rate confirmations |
Sources: 49 U.S.C. 80101, UCC 7-102, and the Estes, Old Dominion and Flexport glossaries.
When the shipper, the consignor and the pickup dock are different companies
On a simple load, one company makes the product, loads the truck and appears as the shipper. Plenty of freight is less tidy.
- A manufacturer stores its product at a 3PL warehouse. The truck loads at the warehouse, and the manufacturer is the shipper on the paperwork.
- A distributor sells goods it never touches. The factory ships straight to the distributor’s customer, and the distributor doesn’t want either side to see the other’s name. That’s a blind shipment.
- A buyer arranges its own freight and pays for it. The seller’s dock is the pickup, and the buyer is both the consignee and the paying customer.
For a broker, the practical point is that the customer paying you can be the shipper, the consignee or neither. The load needs all of them recorded separately: who you bill, where the truck loads, and where it delivers.
Who pays the freight: prepaid, collect and third party
The payment terms on the bill of lading decide whether the consignee gets the freight bill.
| Terms | Who the carrier bills | How a carrier puts it |
|---|---|---|
| Prepaid | The shipper (consignor) | FedEx Freight: “For prepaid shipments, charges are due and payable by Consignor” |
| Collect | The consignee | FedEx Freight: “For collect shipments, charges are due and payable by Consignee” |
| Third party | A named party that is neither one | Estes: “The paying party other than the shipper or consignee” |
Sources: FedEx Freight rules tariff, Item 435, and the Estes glossary.
Leave the terms blank and the carrier will likely treat the shipment as prepaid. Southeastern Freight Lines’ bill of lading guide says, “Freight charges are prepaid unless marked Freight Collect.”
On an LTL shipment a broker books, the broker is usually the third-party bill-to. On a truckload, the carrier bills the broker under the rate confirmation, and the broker bills its customer.
What a consignee can be held to pay
A consignee on a collect shipment owes the freight charges. Federal law carves out one protection for a consignee that’s only acting as an agent, such as a warehouse receiving goods it doesn’t own.
Under 49 U.S.C. 13706, that kind of consignee is liable for the rates billed at delivery but not for extra charges found to be due later, as long as it gave the delivering carrier written notice before delivery that it’s an agent with no beneficial title to the goods. If the consignee gives the carrier wrong information about who the real owner is, it’s liable for those extra charges after all.
The shipper has a protection of its own. The standard bill of lading terms include a clause known as Section 7. A consignor that signs it is telling the carrier not to deliver without collecting the charges, and if the carrier delivers anyway, the consignor isn’t liable for them. Carriers limit when it can be used. FedEx Freight’s tariff, for example, says the consignor doesn’t sign Section 7 on a third-party billed shipment.
Charges added at the delivery end, such as detention, a lumper fee or a redelivery, are normally billed to whoever is paying the freight, unless the contract says otherwise. Our accessorial charges guide goes through each one.
What the consignee has to do at delivery
The consignee’s signature is what turns a delivery receipt into proof of delivery. Before signing, count the pieces and look at the freight.
Write any shortage or damage on the delivery receipt, in detail. FedEx Freight’s tariff spells out what happens otherwise: a signature “without written notice of damage on the delivery receipt is prima facie evidence that the shipment was delivered in good condition.”
A note on the receipt protects the claim, but it doesn’t count as one. 49 CFR 370.3 says notations on a delivery receipt, standing alone, don’t meet the minimum requirements for filing a claim. A claim has to be in writing, identify the shipment, say the carrier is liable, and ask for a specific or determinable amount of money.
The filing clock is long. A carrier can’t set a deadline shorter than nine months for filing a claim, or shorter than two years for filing suit (49 U.S.C. 14706). Once a claim is filed, the carrier has 30 days to acknowledge it and 120 days to pay it, decline it or make a firm offer.
Concealed damage: the short deadline
Concealed damage is damage nobody could see at delivery, found after the driver left. The nine-month rule still applies to the claim, but carriers set a much shorter window for reporting it, and the window depends on the carrier.
| Carrier | Report concealed damage within |
|---|---|
| FedEx Freight | 21 days after delivery |
| Old Dominion | 5 business days from delivery |
| R+L Carriers | 5 days from delivery |
Sources: FedEx Freight rules tariff, Item 960. Old Dominion tariff, Item 574. R+L Carriers rules tariff. Read in October 2026.
Estes’ glossary calls five days after delivery the industry standard. If a consignee tells you about damage a week later, check the carrier’s tariff the same day.
Why the consignee box matters to a broker
A lot of delivery problems start with the consignee details on the load.
- A wrong address or a missing suite number turns into a redelivery or a reconsignment charge.
- Receiving hours and appointment rules belong to the consignee. If they aren’t on the rate confirmation, the driver finds out at the gate.
- The name on the signed paperwork has to match the consignee your customer expects, or the invoice gets kicked back.
Federal rules also require a broker to keep the consignor’s name and address in its record of every load (49 CFR 371.3). We covered the entry mistakes that cause the most trouble in freight paperwork load entry traps.
Where FreightVero fits
In FreightVero, a load can’t reach Delivered until the proof is on file, and every delivered, unbilled load sits in one billing queue checked against that customer’s paperwork rules. Your team sees a missing signed bill of lading before the customer’s accounts payable department does.
Final thoughts
The consignee is whoever the bill of lading says gets the freight. That one box decides who signs, who can end up with the bill, and whose notes on the delivery receipt protect a claim. Get the name, the address and the payment terms right when the load is built, and you head off the delivery problems that come from bad paperwork.