Blind Shipment

In a blind shipment, the origin of shipped goods is hidden from the end customer. Shipping documents, like the bill of lading and commercial invoice, display the name and address of a third party or intermediary instead of the sender.

Blind shipping is often used in drop-shipping, where products are sent directly from a supplier to a customer. It’s also used to protect supplier confidentiality when necessary. Maintaining privacy is seen as the primary benefit of blind shipping for the supplier, while customers enjoy a simplified delivery process without a “middleman.”

Examples of Blind Shipments

Perhaps the most common example of a blind shipment today is when an online retailer drop-ships products directly from the supplier to the end customer. This type of blind shipping relieves the retailer of maintaining inventory for the product, and the product reaches the customer faster.

Outside of retail, another common type of blind shipment is when a company sends a gift directly from the gift’s manufacturer to a client. Such an arrangement avoids revealing the source of the gift and appears to come directly from the company to the client.

A related concept is the double-blind shipment, where a shipper is unaware of where a shipment will be delivered, and a consignee is unaware of where the shipment is coming from.