Bear Shift Logistics LLCBear Shift Logistics LLC (“Bear Shift”, “we”, “us”) is a licensed property freight broker. This policy explains what information we collect when you contact us or use our services, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to bearshift.com, quote.bearshift.com, tms.bearshift.com, to the private load links we send to carriers and their drivers (driver steps, bill of lading, rate confirmation and tracking pages), and to the email, SMS and WhatsApp messages we exchange with you.
1. Information we collect
We only collect what we need to quote, arrange and track your shipments.
| Category | Examples | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Contact details | Name, company, email address, phone number | You — quote form, email, SMS/WhatsApp, phone |
| Shipment details | Origin and destination, pickup/delivery dates, pallets, weight, dimensions, commodity, references | You |
| Carrier details | MC/USDOT number, insurance certificates, W-9 (filled in and signed online in the registration, kept as a PDF, or uploaded, kept as the file that was uploaded; in both cases only our owner, our compliance and accounting staff, and a manager our owner designates to handle compliance can open it), authority documents, driver name and contact for an assigned load, and a photo of the government ID of the person who sends the carrier's registration and of the person who signs our agreement or a rate confirmation for the carrier (a copy of the registration photo may be reused as identity evidence for that carrier's other documents signed within 30 days, such as the W-9 and our agreement, which a person reviews; for our agreement, the name, document type, expiration date and legibility are read automatically only if that person ticks the consent box on the signing page — see below) | The carrier, and public FMCSA records |
| Partner company agreement | The name and title of the general manager who signs the agreement with one of our partner companies, and a selfie taken at that moment (no identity document) — see section 10 | The general manager of the partner company, through a private signing link |
| Message content | The emails, SMS and WhatsApp messages you send us and our replies | You |
| Shipment documents | Bills of lading, proof of delivery, cargo condition photos | Carriers and drivers |
| Driver location (GPS) | Precise location of the driver's phone (latitude, longitude, accuracy) with the date and time, while a load is in transit — see section 2 | The driver's phone, only when the driver turns sharing on or taps a check-in |
| Selfie, and for some Bear Shift staff an identity document (TMS accounts only) | People who work for one of our partner companies: only a selfie taken at that moment, and the consent given. Bear Shift staff who are asked for it: a photo of the front of a government-issued identity document and a selfie taken at that moment; the name, document type and expiration date read from the document; and the consent given — see section 10 | The account holder, through a private link sent to the email address of their account |
| Instant quotes | When you calculate a price on our quote page we keep an anonymous record of that quote — the city and state of origin and destination as our quote page identified them, miles, quoted rate, equipment type and date — without your IP address, browser details or any contact detail, to measure demand. If you then request the load, that record is linked to your request. When you send a request through the form on our home page, we keep only a counting record — its date and a link to your request — with no lane, no equipment and no contact detail (your request itself is covered by the rows above) | Automatically, when you use our quote page or the form on our home page |
| Website usage | Pages viewed, approximate location by IP, device/browser type | Automatically, via our website |
We do not ask for payment card numbers, health information, or any special categories of personal data, and we ask you not to send them to us. We do not ask for Social Security numbers either, except on Form W-9: the W-9 that a carrier fills in and signs online in its registration asks for a taxpayer identification number, which is an EIN or, for a sole proprietor, may be a Social Security number. A Social Security number given there is kept only in the signed W-9 PDF, which only our owner, our compliance and accounting staff, and a manager our owner designates to handle compliance can open; our records keep just the type of number (EIN or SSN) and its last four digits. If you upload a W-9 instead, it is kept as the file you uploaded, with the same restricted access. When we do ask for a photo of an identity document — for the identity check of some Bear Shift staff accounts (section 10), from the person who sends a carrier's registration, or from the person who signs an agreement or a rate confirmation on behalf of a carrier — we do not type its number, the date of birth or the address into our systems (they remain visible only in the photo itself). The person who sends a carrier's registration provides the photo with a separate consent (version sign-id-2026-10-22) that also allows us to reuse a copy of that same photo as identity evidence for that carrier's other documents signed within 30 days, such as the W-9 and our agreement; a person reviews that evidence. For the person who signs our agreement on behalf of a carrier, the name, document type, expiration date and whether the photo is legible are read automatically by Anthropic (United States; see section 5) only after that person ticks a separate consent box on the signing page, which is never pre-checked; without it the agreement cannot be signed and nothing is read. Nothing is read when the photo is chosen, only when the agreement is signed. The automated reading never approves or rejects anyone on its own: a person reviews the identity before loads are assigned. People who work for one of our partner companies, and the general manager who signs a partner company agreement, are asked only for a selfie, never for an identity document. We do not use facial recognition.
2. Driver location (GPS)
When we assign a load to a carrier we send its driver a private link (the driver steps page and the bill of lading). That page can share the precise location of the driver's phone with us. Because the driver usually works for the carrier and not for us, we set out here exactly how it works.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is collected | Latitude, longitude and the accuracy reported by the phone, with a timestamp and the load it belongs to. Nothing else — no contacts, no phone identifiers, and no location outside the loads we assign. |
| When | (a) At the instant the driver taps a check-in button (arrived or departed, at pickup or delivery): one point. (b) While the driver has ticked “Share my location while I run this load” and keeps that page open: about one point every one to two minutes, and only between arrival at the pickup and departure from the delivery. |
| Consent and control | Continuous sharing is off until the driver turns it on, and the phone asks for its own permission on top of that. Unticking the box, closing the page or denying the browser permission stops it immediately; the page shows whether sharing is actually on. Check-ins, photos and the bill of lading all work with no location at all. |
| Why we do it | So the customer can see that the shipment is moving without calling the driver, and so arrival and departure times can be evidenced when detention is billed, an appointment is missed, or a delay is disputed. |
| Who sees it | Our staff, and the customer of that shipment through the tracking link for that load. We do not sell it, do not use it for advertising, do not share it with the driver's employer as a performance measure, and do not use it to score or discipline drivers. |
| How long we keep it | Check-in points (arrival and departure) are kept for three years as part of the shipment record, then deleted automatically. Points from continuous sharing are deleted automatically no later than 180 days after delivery. If the shipment is subject to a claim, an incident or a dispute, or a legal obligation requires us to keep them, its location points are kept while that matter remains open and for three years after it is closed. The arrival and departure times stay in the shipment record, because broker records must be kept (see section 7). |
A driver who wants their location points deleted sooner can write to Ac@bearshift.com with the load number; we remove the points from continuous sharing for loads that are already delivered and not subject to an open claim, incident or dispute or to a legal obligation to keep them. Check-in points are part of the shipment record and are kept for three years.
3. How we use it
- To prepare quotes and respond to your inquiries.
- To arrange, dispatch, track and document freight shipments.
- To show the customer where their shipment is, when the driver has chosen to share location.
- To verify carrier authority, insurance and safety records before assigning a load (fraud prevention and compliance with 49 CFR Part 371 and related FMCSA requirements).
- To issue rate confirmations, bills of lading and invoices, and to process payments.
- To keep records we are required to keep as a licensed broker.
- To improve our service and, where you have asked for it, to send you service updates.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for automated decisions that produce legal effects about you.
4. SMS and WhatsApp messaging
No sharing of mobile data for marketing
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All the other categories in this policy exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties, except with the subprocessors strictly necessary to deliver the message to you (see section 5).
Consent
We send SMS or WhatsApp messages only to people who have given us their mobile number and asked us to contact them there by text — for example by checking the messaging box on our carrier, customer or warehouse registration form, by messaging us first, or by asking a Bear Shift representative to follow up by text. Submitting a quote request on our website does not, by itself, sign you up for text messages. Those boxes are never pre-checked, and consent to receive messages is never a condition of any purchase or of doing business with us.
We keep a record of every consent and every opt-out — the date, the number, and the exact wording that was shown at the time — so we can always tell you what you agreed to and when.
What we send
Messages are operational, not promotional: quote replies, load status and appointment updates, pickup and delivery confirmations, tracking links, document requests such as a missing proof of delivery, one-time verification codes, and answers to questions you asked. Message frequency varies with your shipping activity.
If you separately opt in to hear about available loads, those messages are covered by that separate consent, and you can stop them the same way by replying STOP.
How to stop
Reply STOP (or CANCEL, END, QUIT, UNSUBSCRIBE, REVOKE, STOPALL or OPTOUT) to any message to opt out; you will receive a single confirmation and no further messages. Reply HELP for assistance, or contact us at Ac@bearshift.com or (425) 754-5008. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
The full terms of our SMS program are in our Terms & Conditions.
5. Who we share information with
We share only what is necessary, and only with:
- Carriers and drivers assigned to your shipment — pickup and delivery details, contact at the facility, and the reference numbers needed to complete the load. Carriers never receive what you pay us.
- Shippers and consignees involved in the same shipment — including, through the tracking link for that load, the driver's location while it is in transit, if the driver turned sharing on (section 2).
- Service providers that operate our systems on our behalf, bound to protect the data: our web host (Hostinger), our messaging providers (Twilio for SMS/WhatsApp; our email provider for email), and Anthropic, which processes message text so our assistant can draft a reply (see section 6), and processes images and PDFs of documents we receive so their details can be read automatically — for example the name printed on an identity document (section 10) or the details of a shipping document. Anthropic is located in the United States, so that content is processed there. Selfies are never sent to Anthropic or to any other automated system.
- Public authority databases — we look up carriers in the FMCSA public registry. We send only the carrier's MC/USDOT number; we never send customer data there.
- Professional advisors, insurers and authorities when required by law, or to establish or defend a legal claim (for example, a cargo claim).
We do not sell or rent personal information to anyone.
6. Automated replies
To answer you faster, some incoming messages are processed by an AI assistant that reads your message and drafts a reply. Quotes it provides are non-binding estimates generated by our own pricing system. Messages involving claims, damage, payments, invoices, cancellations or legal matters are always routed to a person before anyone replies, and a Bear Shift employee can review any conversation at any time. You can ask to speak with a person at any point by replying to the message.
7. How long we keep it
- Shipment records, rate confirmations and bills of lading: at least three years, as required of licensed brokers under 49 CFR § 371.3.
- Pickup and delivery photos (cargo condition) and vehicle inspection photos: at least three years from when they are uploaded. Our retention setting may extend that period or keep them indefinitely. Otherwise, they are deleted automatically once that period expires, subject to the claims, incidents and disputes rule below.
- Photo of the government ID provided with a carrier's registration, and the copies reused from it: kept as evidence of who sent the registration and as identity evidence for the carrier's documents that reuse a copy (for example the W-9).
- W-9 forms: a W-9 signed online is kept as a PDF in the carrier's file, and an uploaded W-9 is kept as the file that was uploaded; in both cases only our owner, our compliance and accounting staff, and a manager our owner designates to handle compliance can open it.
- Photo of the government ID of the person who signs our agreement or a rate confirmation for a carrier: kept with that agreement or rate confirmation for as long as we keep it (shipment records at least three years, see above). It is deleted together with the agreement if the agreement is deleted. If that photo is replaced (for example, because it was unreadable), the earlier photo is kept as evidence for as long as the agreement exists and is deleted together with it.
- Driver location points: check-in points three years; points from continuous sharing no later than 180 days after delivery; then deleted automatically. The arrival and departure times themselves stay with the shipment record.
- Claims, incidents and disputes: if a shipment is subject to a claim, an incident or a dispute, or a legal obligation requires us to keep its records, its photos and location points are not deleted while the matter remains open and for three years after it is closed.
- Backups: our scheduled backup process keeps the most recent 90 database backup files. This is a number of backups, not a fixed number of days. Information deleted from the live system may remain in an older backup until enough new backups have been created to replace it.
- Messages (email, SMS, WhatsApp): kept while you are an active contact and for a reasonable period afterwards for claims and audit purposes.
- Opt-out records: kept indefinitely, so we do not message you again by mistake.
- Selfie and, where asked for, identity document (TMS accounts): kept while the account exists and deleted when the account is deleted. If access is rejected, the images are deleted 90 days after the rejection, automatically; a record that a submission was made and rejected is kept, without the images (section 10).
- Selfie of the general manager who signs a partner company agreement: kept with that agreement for as long as we keep it, and deleted together with the agreement if the agreement is deleted. If the selfie is replaced, the earlier one is kept as evidence for as long as the agreement exists and is deleted together with it.
8. How we protect it
Access to our systems requires an individual account and password, is limited by role, and is logged. Data is transmitted over encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), documents are stored outside the public web root, and we take regular backups. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to keep your information safe and will notify you if a breach affecting your personal information occurs, as required by law.
9. Your choices and rights
Drivers: location sharing is optional. Leave the box unticked, untick it at any time, close the page, or deny the permission in your phone — no continuous location is collected and you can still do your check-ins, photos and paperwork. See section 2.
You may ask us to access, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, or to stop contacting you. Write to Ac@bearshift.com and we will respond within 30 days. We may need to keep records that broker regulations require us to retain, and we will tell you if that is the case.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights (for example under the Washington My Health My Data Act or the California Consumer Privacy Act). We honor those requests regardless of where you are located.
Children
Our services are for businesses. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 16.
Changes to this policy
If we make a material change we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you directly.
10. Identity check for TMS accounts
Before someone is given access to our transportation management system (TMS) we may ask them to confirm who they are. People who work for one of our partner companies and use our TMS on our behalf — including the partner company's general manager — are asked only for a selfie taken at that moment; they are never asked for an identity document. Bear Shift staff who are asked for it upload a photo of a government-issued identity document and a selfie. The TMS gives access to shipment, customer and carrier information, so we want to know that the account is used by the person it was created for. A selfie on its own does not prove who someone is: it is one element a person looks at when deciding about access.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is collected | People of a partner company: a selfie, and the consent given (the exact wording shown, its version and language, the date and time, the IP address and the browser). Nothing is read from the selfie. Bear Shift staff who are asked for a document: a photo of the front of an identity document (for example a passport, a national identity card or a driver's license) and a selfie. With them we record the name read from the document (in its original script and, only if it is printed on the document, in Latin letters), the type of document, its expiration date, whether that name matches the name on the account, and the consent given in the same way. We do not type the document number, the date of birth or the address into our systems; they remain visible only in the photo itself. Documents already submitted by people of a partner company before September 30, 2026 are kept and reviewed as before. |
| Partner company agreement | The general manager who signs the agreement with one of our partner companies uploads a selfie taken at that moment (not an identity document). The owner of Bear Shift Logistics LLC reviews it before countersigning the agreement. It is kept with the agreement (section 7). |
| How it is collected | Only by the account holder, through a private link sent to the email address of their account. The link expires, works once, and stops working if the email address of the account changes. |
| Consent | Nothing is uploaded until the person ticks the consent box, which is never pre-checked. The person can decline. In that case we may not be able to give, or to keep giving, access to the TMS; that decision is made by a person, never automatically. |
| Why we do it | To decide whether to give, or to keep giving, that person access to our TMS. It is a decision about access to our system, not an employment decision: if you work for one of our partner companies, your employment relationship is with that company. |
| Automated reading | For identity documents of Bear Shift staff: the name, document type and expiration date are read automatically from the document image by Anthropic (see section 5). (The ID photo of the person who signs our agreement on behalf of a carrier is read the same way only after that person ticks the consent box on the signing page — see section 1.) Selfies are never read by any automated system. No facial recognition or automated face comparison is performed and no biometric template is created: a person looks at the selfie (and, where there is one, the document photo side by side). The automated reading never grants or denies access on its own. |
| Who sees it | Only the owner of Bear Shift Logistics LLC and the Director of its parent company. This also applies to the selfie of the general manager who signs a partner company agreement. For the identity check of TMS accounts, the Director only sees documents submitted from September 26, 2026 onwards, with the consent that names her; anything submitted before that date is seen only by the owner. Every time the images are viewed, the view is recorded in our audit log. They are not shown to other staff, to your employer, to customers or to carriers, and they are not used for any other purpose. |
| How long we keep it | While the account exists, active or deactivated, as the record of who was given access. The images are deleted when the account is deleted. If access is rejected, they are deleted automatically 90 days after the rejection. Photos replaced by a newer submission are deleted the same number of days after they were replaced, and so is a selfie that stops counting because the person moved from a partner company to Bear Shift Logistics LLC (where an identity document is also asked for). After deletion, only a record that a submission was made and how it ended (dates, who reviewed it, the reason and the consent version) is kept; what was read from the document, the IP address and the browser are deleted with the images. When the owner downloads a full backup that contains these images, the download is recorded in our audit log. |
You can ask us to delete your selfie (and your identity document, if you uploaded one) at any time by writing to Ac@bearshift.com. Because the check is a condition of access to the TMS, deleting them may end that access.
11. Contact us
Bear Shift Logistics LLC
410 N Main St, Ste 100, Buffalo, WY 82834
Email: Ac@bearshift.com
Phone: (425) 754-5008
MC 77849774 USDOT 4509218 Licensed property broker