Fruit shop franchisee - HQ delivery spoilage claim SOP - four photos, same-day filing, monthly ledger; a claim is a process, not a favor

You are an operations advisor for a fruit franchise store. The HQ
delivery truck arrives daily and there is always some spoiled fruit -
in fruit franchising this is routine, not an incident. Write "delivery
receiving and spoilage claims" as an archivable SOP the staff can run.
Core stance first: a claim is not begging HQ for a favor - it is
running the contract process. Whether it succeeds depends on evidence
and deadlines, not on who shouts louder.

Fixed rules first:
- Inspection deadline: open and inspect cartons on arrival; file
  within [X] hours. Most HQ rules treat late filing as acceptance -
  this deadline is the life-or-death line of the whole claim; set it
  in the largest type in the SOP
- Three loss types travel on separate filings, never mixed:
  a. Whole-carton: diseased fruit, chill damage, heavy bruising
     across the box - claim by carton, carton unopened, photographed
     as-is
  b. Partial: spoilage within an otherwise good box - claim by
     weight, spoiled fruit weighed separately
  c. Grade dispute: fruit undamaged but below the grade ordered
     (premium ordered, standard shipped) - this does not travel on
     the spoilage claim; file a separate grade dispute. Mixing it in
     gets the entire filing bounced
- Four standard photos (missing one likely gets the claim rejected):
  1. Carton from above: box number and batch label readable
  2. Opened carton from above: spoiled fruit still in original
     position
  3. Close-up of the spoiled fruit: damage identifiable
  4. Spoiled fruit on the scale: weight reading visible (mandatory
     for partial; optional for whole-carton)

SOP body as a numbered flow; each step names who, the deadline, and
what counts as done:
1. Truck-side check: verify item and carton counts against the
   delivery note. Missing or wrong items get marked on the note and
   countersigned by the driver - a separate claim category; never mix
   with spoilage
2. Sample opening: open [sampling rate] of cartons per item (100% for
   high-shrink items); photograph while inspecting. High-shrink fruit
   (berries, stone fruit) goes into cold storage first, paperwork
   after - never let produce wait on process at the receiving dock
3. Sort into classes: register a/b/c separately, counts settled per
   class
4. File same day: submit via HQ's [filing channel] with the four
   photos attached; screenshot the confirmation page - the timestamp
   is your appeal evidence
5. Ledger entry: date / item / batch / class / quantity / claimed
   amount / outcome / outcome date. Summarized monthly, this ledger
   pays three ways: monthly reconciliation with HQ, proof of the
   supply line's true shrink when negotiating supply prices, and the
   baseline for deciding which items to switch to self-sourcing
6. On rejection: appeal citing the submission timestamp and the four
   photos, point by point - delivery contact first, supervisor if
   that fails. Where the rejection says "cause cannot be
   established," photograph the same batch still in storage and
   refile - proving the damage arrived with the goods, not your
   storage

Prohibitions:
- No "keep a good relationship with HQ and claims go smoothly" - this
  SOP stands on process and evidence precisely because relationships
  change and processes don't
- System names and contact roles use [ ] placeholders; they differ
  per brand
- Every number - deadlines, rates, payout percentages - stays a
  [placeholder]. Contracts differ; a hardcoded number in the SOP gets
  quoted as contract terms in a dispute and then you can't walk it
  back
- Never "toss the spoiled fruit first to clear space, file later" -
  photograph before disposing; once it's gone, so is your evidence

Why it is written this way

"Claims are routine" leads the SOP because most stores get the mindset wrong: either spoilage feels embarrassing and goes unreported, or it accumulates into one month-end bundle to "negotiate." Both lose money - the first hands it to HQ for free, the second times out and gets rejected wholesale. A claims system only works once the store accepts that delivered fruit always includes some spoilage and treats the paperwork like daily cash reconciliation - a chore, not a grievance.

The three loss classes come from rejected-claim scar tissue: HQ reviews spoilage and grade disputes with different people and different standards - spoilage reviewers want photos and weights, grade reviewers want the order sheet versus the actual grade. File them together and one disputed line bounces the whole submission, including the spoilage that was never in question. Separate filings look like more work and are actually what makes each claim quick to approve.

The four photos have an order, reverse-engineered from where disputes happen. The carton shot pins the batch ("not our product" is the most common rejection); the opened-carton shot pins state and quantity on arrival ("your storage did it" is the second most common - this photo answers it); the close-up pins the failure mode; the scale shot pins the amount. With all four, the standard rejection reasons have nowhere to stand.

The ledger's "pays three ways" is this SOP's long game: a single claim is pocket change, the ledger is an asset. Monthly reconciliation is defense. A year of per-item claim rates at supply price negotiations is hard proof of what this supply line really costs. And when the day comes to move an item to self-sourcing, that item's claim total is line one of the business case. Without the ledger, all three conversations run on vibes.

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