How to Automate POD Retrieval in Your TMS

Proof of Delivery (POD) retrieval is one of the most frustrating and costly parts of freight operations. Every shipment requires a POD, yet team members spend hours chasing down paperwork through emails, portals, and phone calls. This slows down invoicing, creates billing disputes, and cuts into profit margins.

The solution? POD retrieval automation using AI agents that collect, validate, and log PODs directly into your Transportation Management System (TMS). Here's how it works and how to make it pay for itself in weeks.

What is POD Retrieval Automation?

POD retrieval automation uses AI agents, purpose-built digital workers, to handle the entire document collection process. These agents can read and parse emailed PODs, pull documents from carrier portals, use optical character recognition (OCR) to extract fields from scanned files, validate document format and completeness, and write the POD directly into your TMS linked to the correct shipment.

Instead of a dispatcher chasing paperwork for days, the agent handles everything automatically, around the clock.

Why It Matters

Manual POD collection drains time and resources in several ways. It delays billing since you can't invoice without a POD, which stalls cash flow. Missing or mismatched paperwork leads to disputes between carriers and shippers. Representatives spend 30 to 60 minutes per load just tracking down documents. And delayed visibility frustrates customers, hurting satisfaction scores and trust.

Automating POD retrieval speeds up invoicing, reduces billing errors, improves customer satisfaction, and cuts labor costs by up to 45%.

Step 1: Map Your Current Workflow

Before automating, document how your team retrieves PODs today. Identify where PODs come from (email, portal, fax, or driver upload), who's responsible for chasing them, how long it takes to close the loop, and what exceptions occur most often, like wrong formats, missing fields, or delayed responses.

This baseline helps you measure return on investment after automation.

Step 2: Connect Your TMS

LunaPath integrates with major TMS platforms. Through pre-built connectors or simple email and TMS integration, the agent gains access to shipment details including load ID, carrier, and status, the expected POD format, and the service level agreement for POD turnaround.

This context ensures the agent knows exactly what to retrieve, where to find it, and how to validate it.

Step 3: Deploy a POD Retrieval Agent

The Document Retrieval Agent is designed specifically for POD workflows. It monitors email inboxes and portals for incoming PODs, uses OCR to parse PDF or image files, validates documents against expected load details, flags exceptions if files are missing or mismatched, writes completed PODs into the TMS linked to the shipment, and escalates only when issues can't be resolved within the service level agreement.

The result is PODs retrieved with no human time wasted.

Step 4: Measure ROI Immediately

With automation in place, track these metrics from week one: percentage of PODs received within service level agreement, hours saved per representative per week, reduction in billing disputes, and time-to-invoice after delivery.

Most LunaPath customers see payback in under 90 days.

Best Practices

• Start with high-volume lanes to get quick wins where POD chase consumes the most hours.

• Use pre-built playbooks so you don't need to reinvent workflows.

• Enable guardrails through validation rules that prevent bad data from entering your TMS.

• Communicate with carriers to let them know an automated system is live to avoid confusion.

• Keep humans in the loop so exceptions escalate seamlessly to a representative when needed.

Manual POD retrieval creates bottlenecks that delay billing, consume labor hours, and frustrate customers. Automating it with a specialist AI agent transforms the process by enabling faster invoicing, fewer disputes, higher customer satisfaction, and immediate return on investment.

With LunaPath, you can turn on POD retrieval automation this week and see measurable impact in a week.