Receiving iSTAT cartridges

Hello all - I've got a question about the temp strips when receiving the Abbott iSTAT cartridges.

Per Abbott user manual, cartridges are shipped with temp strips that need to be checked (and recorded) when received. At our location(s) we have a central materials management team that receives everything and parts it out to the appropriate location/department. I know that they haven't been checking temp strips, so I sent an email letting them know that this is something that would have to start soon, or we could come up with a different solution. MM told me that they don't ever see any temp strips. We don't get our supplies directly from Abbott, they come through our vendor. I don't know what the vendor does with the temp strips, but they aren't present when we finally get the supplies. I asked our Abbott rep what to do about the requirement saying temps must be checked at receipt. He says "I have to assume that the requirement pertains to shipments sent directly from Abbott." 

Does anyone else have this problem? If you do not get supplies directly from Abbott does your vendor include the temp strips? We are going to the Moderate complexity EG6+ cartridges and so I want to make sure we are doing everything by the book as much as possible before we start.

Thank you~