Who has authority to accept a delivery?

A signature is an acceptance, whether you meant it or not

The person who signs the delivery note is, as far as the supplier is concerned, confirming that the stated quantity arrived in the stated condition. That is what the document says. It does not ask whether they counted it, or whether they were authorised to, or whether they were standing in the rain at two in the morning with a driver telling them the gate needs clearing.

Which is how the classic failure happens: signed for 100, received 90. The count came later. The signature came first. And the signature is now the supplier’s proof of full delivery.

What a policy actually needs to say

Name the authorised receivers, and make the list short. Require a QA countersignature on anything quality-sensitive, because accepting a delivery and accepting the material are two different decisions and only one of them belongs to the storekeeper.

And decide in advance what happens out of hours — because deliveries will arrive out of hours, and “we’ll work it out” is a decision to let the security guard make it for you.

The out-of-hours answer

Quarantine. The goods come in, they are held in quarantine status, and they are not accepted until somebody authorised has counted them. Nothing is issued from quarantine, nothing is paid against it, and the supplier is told this is the policy before it comes up.

The alternative is to accept whatever the driver said was on the truck, on the word of somebody who was hired to watch a gate. That is not a receiving process. It is a hope with a signature on it.

Terms

• Delivery Note
• GRN (Goods Received Note)