You can only ever have one set of Original Bills of Lading.
The Bill of Lading is your receipt for the contents of your shipping container. If the shipping line raise (they calling it “cutting”) Original Bills then the Original Bills must be produced at destination in order to take delivery of your container. Conversely, ANYONE in possession of an Original Bill can take delivery of your container so the value of the document is equal to the value of the contents of your container!!!
The Bill of Lading will state how many copies of the Original Bill of Lading have been “cut”. Tradition dictates this to be three. A number, often also three, of “Non Negotiable Copies” of the Bill of Lading will also be raised at the same time. These will display all of the same information as the Original Bill but will not be signed and will be stamped “Non-Negotiable Copy” rather than “Original”.
When you take delivery of Bills of Lading you should check to see how many “Originals” were cut (this is stated on the Original) and check that you have taken delivery of the expected quantity of Originals. You should check that all of these Originals are signed.
EquipMySchool always retains one of the Originals and one Non-Negotiable Copy (in case of emergency) and sends to the school (ALWAYS by Courier) the other two Originals plus any other Non-Negotiable Copies that the shipping line provides. A stamped and signed original Commercial Invoice will also be included in this courier dispatch from EquipMySchool, together with any other document required for Custom’s clearance in your region.
As mentioned, you can only ever have one set of Original Bills. If, for example, you wanted to get the Bills altered in some way you would have to surrender the first set before a second set was issued. This is one of the reasons that EquipMySchool retains a set of Originals.
