Trip ticket for trucking: what it is and what to put on it

A summary, not legal advice. Checked October 7, 2026.

A trip ticket is the one-page record of a single truck trip. For a trucking company it should show the trip number, date, client, pickup and drop-off, truck plate, driver and helper, cargo, departure and arrival times, odometer and fuel if you track them, and signatures. Driver pay, fuel checks and billing all start from it.

Owners who skip trip tickets usually find out at billing time, when nobody can say for sure how many trips a truck ran for a client last month. This guide covers what to put on a trip ticket, who fills in each part, how it ties to the driver's allowance or commission and to fuel, and when it makes sense to go digital.

What is a trip ticket in trucking?

The trip ticket is your internal record of the job. The dispatcher opens it when a trip is assigned, the driver carries it, and the office closes it when the truck is back and the proof of delivery is in. It is different from the client's delivery receipt (DR), which lists the cargo and gets signed by the consignee. The trip ticket covers the whole trip from your side: who went, in which truck, how far, how long and at what cost.

Searches for "trip ticket" often turn up the government version, which is a different thing: under COA rules a government vehicle may be used only for official business authorized by a trip ticket that states the destination, purpose and duration of travel. Your company's trip ticket is a business record whose format you set yourself.

What should a trip ticket contain?

• Trip number, pre-printed or system-generated, so no two tickets share one and a missing number stands out.
• Date of the trip.
• Client name and the client's own reference, such as a DR, PO or booking number.
• Pickup point and drop-off point, with any extra drops listed in order.
• Truck plate number, plus the unit or body number if you use one.
• Driver and helper names.
• Cargo: description, quantity and unit (sacks, pallets, cartons, kilos), and the seal number if the load is sealed.
• Times: out of the garage, in and out at pickup, in and out at drop-off, back at the garage.
• Odometer reading out and in, if you track kilometres.
• Fuel bought during the trip: liters, station, amount in pesos and receipt number.
• Cash advance or trip allowance released, and how it was liquidated.
• Extra charges the client may be billed for: waiting time, extra drops, tolls, parking, with receipts.
• Signatures: dispatcher on release, guard or checker at pickup, receiver at drop-off, the driver, and the office staff who closed the ticket.

You do not need every line on day one. If you do not reimburse fuel per trip, drop the fuel block. If drivers get no cash advance, drop that line. The lines that should never be missing are the trip number, date, client, route, truck, driver and a receiver's signature or the signed DR attached.

Who fills in each part of the trip ticket?

A trip ticket works when each person writes only their own part, at the time it happens.

• The dispatcher fills in the trip number, client, route, truck, driver, helper and cargo, and signs the release.
• The driver writes the times and odometer readings as they happen, not from memory at the end of the day.
• The guard or checker at pickup signs for what was loaded.
• The receiver at the drop-off signs, or the driver attaches the signed DR.
• The office checks the ticket against the POD, fuel receipts and cash advance, then marks it closed.

Times written later are guesses. A ticket where every time is in the same pen and handwriting, filled in at the garage, tells you much less than it seems to. Spot-check a few tickets a week against what the client's guard logbook or your GPS tracker says.

Paper or digital trip tickets?

Paper trip tickets in pre-numbered carbonless sets are cheap, and every driver already knows how to use them. The trouble comes later. Tickets come back late, wet or not at all, someone in the office types them into a spreadsheet, and totals per client or per truck take an afternoon to add up.

Digital trip tickets fix the typing and the late returns, because the trip exists in the system from the moment it is booked. The driver updates it from a phone, and the office sees the same record. Before you switch, check that:

• It works on the phones your drivers already carry, including cheap Android phones.
• It keeps working where mobile data drops, and sends the update once the signal returns.
• Drivers can attach a photo of the signed DR to the trip.
• You can pull up all the trips for one client or one truck for any month without retyping anything.
• You can export your records if you ever change systems.

You can run both for a while: the paper ticket stays in the truck while the office moves to the digital record. That works as long as both carry the same trip number.

How does the trip ticket connect to the driver's allowance or commission?

Small fleets pay drivers and helpers in different ways: a daily rate, a per-trip rate, a commission on the freight, or a mix, often with a cash allowance released before the trip for meals and small expenses. Whatever the method, base the computation on closed trip tickets. Then payroll can be checked against a record both sides signed.

• Per-trip pay: count each driver's closed trip tickets for the pay period.
• Commission: apply the agreed rate to the freight on each closed ticket. Example, with made-up numbers: a trip billed at ₱10,000 with a 10% driver commission pays ₱1,000.
• Allowance or cash advance: write the amount on the ticket at release, and liquidate it against receipts when the ticket is closed.
• Helpers: put the helper's name on every ticket, so their trips are counted too.

Be careful with deductions. Article 113 of the Labor Code allows deductions from wages only in the cases it lists or where the law or DOLE regulations allow them. Article 114 limits when you can require deposits for loss or damage, and Article 115 says no deduction from those deposits may be made unless the worker has been heard and their responsibility has been clearly shown. If a fuel gap or missing cargo is going to be charged to a driver, the trip ticket, the receipts and the POD are the record that hearing will rely on. Write down the driver's explanation as well.

How do you use trip tickets to monitor fuel?

With odometer readings and liters on every ticket, you can work out how far each truck goes on a liter of diesel and notice when that changes.

Example, with made-up numbers: a truck leaves at 45,200 km, comes back at 45,500 km and took 60 liters during the trip. That is 300 km on 60 liters, or 5 km per liter.

• Compare the same truck on the same route over several weeks. A sudden drop is worth a question.
• Compare trucks of the same model on similar routes and loads.
• Check that every fuel receipt matches a trip ticket by date, plate and station.
• Check that odometer readings connect: the reading when a truck comes back should match the reading when it next goes out.

A drop in km per liter is not proof of theft. Traffic, load weight, tire pressure and engine condition all change it. Treat it as a reason to look, then talk to the driver.

Trip tickets also help at tax time. Section 34(A)(1)(b) of the Tax Code allows a business expense deduction only if you can show, with official receipts or other adequate records, the amount and its direct connection to your business. A fuel receipt tied to a trip number, plate and client is easier to explain than a box of loose receipts. Ask your accountant how they want them filed.

How do trip tickets feed billing?

Your invoice is only as good as the trips behind it. Bill from closed trip tickets with the POD attached, not from memory or a dispatcher's notebook.

• List the trip numbers, dates, routes and plates on each statement of account, so the client can check them against their own records.
• Add the extra charges recorded on the ticket, such as waiting time or extra drops, with the times the driver wrote and the receiver signed.
• Do not bill a trip whose ticket is still open or has no POD. Chase the paper first.
• At month end, count closed tickets per client and compare them with your invoices. Every closed ticket should appear on exactly one invoice.

Orvyn's Transport Management System (TMS) keeps the trip record for you. The office books a trip with the client, pickup, drop-off and cargo, and it gets a trip number right away. The office assigns a truck and driver, and everyone sees the same trip details. At drop-off, the driver sends a photo of the signed receipt from their phone and it lands on the trip record. Trips show whether they are booked, in transit or delivered, delivered trips with proof attached are ready to bill, and you can pull up every trip run for a client. It runs on budget Android phones with patchy data. It is not a GPS tracker and does not show where the truck is. A demo is available.

Sources

• Government car used for personal trips?, The Freeman, January 23, 2015, on Philstar (philstar.com). Checked October 7, 2026.
• Presidential Decree No. 442, Labor Code of the Philippines, Articles 113 to 115, on Lawphil (lawphil.net). Checked October 7, 2026.
• Republic Act No. 8424, National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, Section 34(A)(1)(b), on Lawphil (lawphil.net). Checked October 7, 2026.