Packing Done by You Compared With the Mover
Packing the boxes is the obvious way to save money on a move, and it is a real saving. It also moves the burden of explaining a broken plate from the company that carried the carton to the household that filled it, which is a trade worth making deliberately rather than by accident.
The rule in short
A carrier is liable for loss or damage occurring during transportation of the goods on its bill of lading, but certain shipper actions reduce that liability. Cartons packed by the owner are inventoried as such, and concealed damage inside them is hard to attribute to the carrier without external evidence of mishandling. Dangerous and perishable articles hidden in a shipment fall outside the carrier's liability, and high-value articles must be notified in writing.
Packing the boxes saves real money. It also changes who has to explain a broken plate. Cartons filled by the household are recorded as such on the inventory, and damage found inside one is much harder to lay at the carrier's door.
The regulations do not say a carrier is never liable for an owner-packed carton. They say the carrier is liable for loss or damage occurring during transportation of the goods identified on its bill of lading, and then list shipper actions that reduce that liability. The rest comes from evidence. If nothing on the outside of the box suggests the box was mistreated, the likeliest explanation for a cracked bowl is how it was wrapped, and the carrier will say so.
What the carrier is liable for either way
The starting point is broad. A carrier is legally liable for loss or damage that happens during the performance of the transportation and the related services identified on its lawful bill of lading. Under full value protection that liability is measured by replacement value up to the declared value of the shipment. Under released rates it is measured by weight.
That liability does not disappear because a household taped the boxes. It attaches to the whole shipment. What changes is what can be proved about a particular item, and proof is the whole of a claim once the goods are indoors. A carrier that loses an entire carton is in the same position whoever packed it, because nothing about the packing explains a box that never arrived.
How owner packing shifts the argument
Carriers ordinarily accept responsibility for damage they can be shown to have caused, and external damage to a carton is the clearest showing there is. A crushed, torn or soaked box that produces a broken item inside is a strong claim whoever packed it. An undamaged box that produces a broken item inside is a weak one if the household packed it, and a much stronger one if the crew did, because the crew chose the wrapping and the crew is responsible for the choice.
This is why the term for these boxes matters on the inventory. A carton recorded as packed by the owner carries that description into every later conversation. A carton the crew packed carries the opposite. Where the inventory is wrong about which is which, the moment to correct it is at loading, when the shipper is entitled to observe and verify the inventory and to receive a signed copy.
Partial packing creates a third category that catches people out. A crew that repacks a household's boxes into its own cartons, or that adds padding and re-tapes them, has taken over responsibility for those cartons. A crew that simply carries a sealed box the household filled has not. Where a repack happens on the day, ask for it to be reflected on the inventory, because otherwise the record still shows an owner-packed carton that the carrier in fact prepared.
The habit that decides more claims than any other is the least natural one. A carton arrives, something rattles, and the instinct is to open it. Photographing the sealed box where the crew left it, from more than one angle, preserves the external condition that is the difference between a claim about mishandling and a claim about packing. It costs ten seconds and cannot be recreated afterwards.
Articles that change the analysis entirely
Two categories sit outside the ordinary argument. The first is perishable, dangerous and hazardous articles. Where a shipper includes them without the carrier's knowledge, the carrier need not assume liability for those articles or for loss and damage caused by including them. If the shipper asks the carrier to take such articles, the carrier may agree and limit its liability through its published tariff.
The second is high-value articles. Where goods are released above the low per-pound level, the carrier's liability may be limited to one hundred dollars per pound per article for anything the shipper did not notify it about in writing. Notify it in writing, and the shipper is entitled to full recovery up to the declared value of the article, capped by the declared value of the shipment. Jewelry, cameras and small electronics all live in that band, and none of them belongs in an unlabeled carton in the back of a trailer.
Comparing the two arrangements honestly
| Consideration | Packed by the household | Packed by the mover |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Materials only, plus time | A packing charge and carton charges on the invoice |
| Inventory record | Noted as owner-packed | Noted as packed by the carrier |
| Concealed damage claim | Weak without external evidence of mishandling | Stronger, because the carrier chose the wrapping |
| Control over contents | Complete; nothing goes in unnoticed | Limited; boxes are filled quickly and by room |
| Time on moving day | Weeks of preparation, a faster load | One or two extra days on site, less preparation |
The arrangement most households end up with
Splitting the work is common and sensible. Books, linen, clothing and kitchenware are cheap to replace and easy to pack, and they are where the saving is. Glass, mirrors, artwork, televisions, lamps and anything with an irregular shape are where damage happens, where cartons are specialized, and where a professional pack is worth its price precisely because it moves the argument.
Appliances are their own case. Servicing a washing machine, disconnecting an icemaker or preparing a piano are accessorial services with their own charges, and a household that performs them itself has taken on the outcome. Anything requiring the machine to be drained, bolted or immobilized is worth buying from the carrier, because failure there tends to damage the floor as well as the appliance.
Whatever the split, the documents carry the outcome. The inventory records what went on the truck and in what condition, and it sits as an attachment to the bill of lading that governs the move. The valuation election decides what a successful claim is worth, which is set out under why valuation is not insurance. And the claim itself has to be written, has to name a sum, and has to arrive inside the period on the contract, as described under the nine-month claim window.
One last practical point. Note damage on the inventory at delivery while the crew is present, and take the copy of those notations the carrier must provide. A household that packed its own boxes needs that record more than anyone, because it is the only contemporaneous evidence pointing away from the packing and toward the transport. Written at delivery, it costs nothing. Reconstructed a month later, it is worth almost nothing.
Points to carry away
- A carrier is liable for loss or damage during transportation of the goods on its bill of lading.
- Certain shipper actions reduce that liability, such as hiding articles the carrier did not know about.
- Owner-packed cartons are noted on the inventory and are treated differently in a claim.
- Damage caused by an act or omission of the shipper can be excluded from the carrier's liability.
- Dangerous, hazardous or perishable articles hidden in a carton are outside the carrier's liability.
Questions readers ask
How does an inventory record who packed a carton?
The carrier must prepare a written itemized inventory identifying every carton and every uncartoned item, with a numbered tag corresponding to the inventory placed on each article. Cartons packed by the household are ordinarily identified as such in that record, alongside the carrier's condition notations. The inventory is prepared before or at loading in a way that lets the shipper watch and check it, and a signed copy goes to the shipper together with the bill of lading, which is the moment to correct anything recorded wrongly.
What counts as external evidence of mishandling?
Visible damage to the outside of the carton is the usual example: a crushed corner, a puncture, a water stain, a box that has clearly been on the bottom of a stack. Photographing the carton before opening it, while it is still where the crew left it, is the single most useful thing a household can do when something inside is broken. Once the box is flattened and put out for recycling, the strongest evidence in the whole claim has been discarded.
Are there things that should never go in a carton at all?
Yes. Perishable, dangerous and hazardous articles are the clear category, and including them without the carrier's knowledge takes them outside its liability along with any loss or damage their presence causes. Beyond that there is a practical list that belongs in a car rather than a truck: documents, passports, keys, medication, jewelry, small electronics and anything irreplaceable. Those items are exactly the ones the low released valuation would pay almost nothing for.
Sources
- 49 CFR 375.201 — Normal liability for loss and damageStates the carrier's liability for goods identified on the bill of lading and the valuation framework.
- 49 CFR 375.203 — Shipper actions that reduce liabilityRemoves liability for hidden dangerous or perishable articles and sets the high-value notice rule.
- 49 CFR 375.503 — Inventory requirementsRequires an itemized inventory identifying every carton, with numbered tags and a signed copy.
- 49 CFR 375.707 — Charges on a partially lost shipmentAllows the carrier to disregard the proration rules where loss was due to a shipper act or omission.
- 49 U.S.C. 14706 — Liability under receipts and bills of ladingThe statutory liability standard against which a carrier's defenses are measured.
- 49 CFR 370.3 — Filing of claimsSets what a written claim must contain, whoever packed the carton in question.
National Attorney Hub is a publication, not a law firm. This article states general rules and cites its sources; it is not advice about any particular case, and the law differs by state and changes over time.
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Delivery Windows and What Delay Entitles You To
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