Each courier service and parcel delivery service will have their own procedures for tracking and tracing parcels in transit. You should always check with you chosen courier service to see what procedures they have in place, as this can be an important part of the service offered. All good courier and parcel delivery services will have this type of information easily accessible from their websites or over the phone.

Online – direct

Most courier and parcel delivery companies will make parcel tracking information available on their website. When a courier takes control of a parcel, it immediately enters that courier’s computerised tracking system; usually by virtue of a scanned bar code or other unique number. By using such delivery, registration and customer numbers to identify yourself, you are able to retrieve the details of parcels which you have sent or which you are waiting to receive.

Online – through the sender

If you have ever shopped with a major online retailer, you will be familiar with vendor online parcel tracking. What usually happens is that when you place and pay for your order, the vendor will send you an email or online confirmation. This confirmation will also contain a link for parcel tracking, which will usually take you directly to the chosen couriers webpage and retrieve the information about your parcel. You will be able to see your parcel pass through all the steps in the delivery cycle and will see when it has entered the final stage and is about to be delivered to you.

Online – via email

Some courier and parcel delivery companies do not have online customer enquiry gateways, but will instead have some form of online enquiry form. You should be able to find such a form on your courier’s website under "track" or "trace" in most cases. You will be asked to enter your personal and parcel details and an employee of the courier company will usually respond to you via email. Some companies will have forms that allow you to submit requests for information on multiple parcels at the same time. This is particularly useful if you are the one despatching the parcels.

Over the phone

Sometimes the simplest way is the best, particularly if you don’t have all the details of the parcel in question. Your parcel delivery service should be able to find the details of any parcel in their own computer system and given the details to you over the phone, once you have identified yourself properly.

Information needed to track a parcel

• Sender’s name and details
• Receiver’s name and details
• Date despatched
• Parcel reference number

A note on international deliveries:

If you are considering engaging an international courier service, it’s particularly important to find out how the local delivery at the other end of the parcel’s journey will be handled. A number of international courier companies will engage with a local company for the final leg of the delivery. If the interface and procedures controlling this handover aren’t up to scratch, your parcels could take forever to be delivered. This is a common case with some online sellers in the United States, and an ongoing cause of frustration for their customers.

The ability to provide an online track and trace facility for vendors and receiving customers is a big part of a modern courier or parcel delivery service. It’s probably not so important to be able to track your documents across a couple of blocks with a bicycle courier, but if you’re looking for an international courier, it can be a major consideration in your choice of parcel service.