F.O.B. means Freight On Board. In the case of our terms, it is Freight On Board at our plant in Attleboro, Massachusetts. In broad general terms, what it does is identify the party responsible for getting the products a customer has ordered "on board" a carrier, in our case at our plant. Our preferred carrier is UPS, but because our responsibility ends with loading the "freight on board" at our plant, the choice of freight or parcel carriers is up to the customer. Now for example, if you were to see terms of F.O.B. Destination, that means that the seller is responsible for delivering the products to the customers destination as as opposed to just getting it on the truck. As you can imagine, F.O.B. terms can get very complex and the larger the transaction and freight bill, the more important it is to pay attention to detail.

Examples of some that may cause some need for thought: F.O.B., John Doe’s Warehouse Dock, at Destination City, yet to be specified in North America or F.O.B. Iraq, the responsibility of the shipper here is to get the product to Iraq, notice not to a specific destination in Iraq.