what are the common waybill issues?

Question

Can I address this to people in the delivery business?

Answer 1

Waybills have gone the way of train orders, firemen and brakemen.

At one time each car in a train had a waybill that traveled with it, denoting commodity, routing and any special handling instructions. the conductors had the responsibility of keeping track of them while en route, when picking up cars when en route, and assuring the waybills were delivered to the outgoing conductor at crew change points, or delivering the waybills to the yard office where trains either terminated or set out (leave) cars.

These days information regarding these issues are printed by computer for train 'consists' or 'wheel reports' aka, 'wheelers'. Any hazardous material shipments do have shipping papers that must travel with the cars, indicating commodity, emergency procedures, agencies and their contact numbers to be notified in the event of a spill or leakage as well as derailment.