📦 UPS Tracking

About UPS Package Tracking Service

United Parcel Service (UPS) is one of the world's largest package delivery companies, serving over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Founded in 1907 in Seattle, UPS lists about 460,000 employees on its corporate facts page (checked October 2026).

Our UPS tracking service allows you to monitor your shipments from the moment they're accepted at a UPS facility until they reach their final destination. It works for 1Z numbers on UPS Ground, Air, Worldwide and Ground Saver shipments and fetches the scans through our tracking data providers.

Track your UPS packages easily by entering your tracking number in the search box above. UPS tracking numbers typically start with "1Z" followed by 16 additional characters (total 18 characters). Once your package ships, you'll see updates showing each scan location, transit progress, and delivery confirmation as it travels through UPS's extensive global network.

Quick UPS Tracking Guide (30 Seconds)

UPS Shipping Services

Special Services & Features

UPS offers several value-added services to enhance your shipping experience. UPS My Choice is free to join and gives you delivery alerts, delivery photos and an estimated delivery time. Rerouting a package or booking a confirmed 2-hour window costs extra, or comes with UPS My Choice Premium ($19.99 a year as of October 2026). UPS Access Point provides secure package pickup locations at thousands of partner stores, UPS Customer Centers, and The UPS Store locations nationwide.

UPS Signature Services include Signature Required, Adult Signature Required, and Delivery Confirmation. These services provide added security and verification for valuable or sensitive shipments. UPS Returns offers hassle-free return shipping for both businesses and consumers with multiple options including Print Return Label and Electronic Return Label.

UPS Quantum View is a web-based visibility tool for businesses that provides real-time tracking information, customizable alerts, and detailed reporting capabilities. UPS Carbon Neutral allows customers to offset the carbon emissions associated with shipping by contributing to certified environmental projects.

UPS Service Comparison

Each UPS service carries its own two-digit code inside the 1Z tracking number, so you can identify the service level from the number alone before the first scan appears. The table below pairs each service with its code, commitment window and guarantee status.

Understanding UPS Delivery Guarantees

UPS Next Day Air (code 01), Next Day Air Early (14) and Next Day Air Saver (13): three separate commitments that people confuse. Early targets an early-morning window. Standard Next Day Air targets late morning to midday, and Saver targets end of day. The tracking number names the one the shipper bought, so check characters 9 and 10 before you decide a delivery ran late.

UPS 2nd Day Air (02) and 2nd Day Air A.M. (59): both commit to the second business day; only the A.M. variant commits to a morning window. Business days exclude weekends and UPS holidays, so a Thursday shipment on 2nd Day Air is a Monday delivery, not a Saturday one. Only 2nd Day Air A.M. currently carries the Service Guarantee.

UPS Ground (03): UPS publishes a committed date rather than an estimate on most Ground lanes, but the UPS Service Guarantee is currently suspended for Ground. When a guaranteed service misses its commitment, the shipper requests the refund, not the recipient. The filing window is short, so tell the sender rather than wait to see whether the package turns up.

Complete Guide to UPS Tracking

Understanding UPS Tracking Numbers

A standard UPS tracking number runs to 18 characters: 1Z, a 6-character shipper account code, a 2-digit service code, then an 8-digit package identifier ending in a check digit. Example: 1Z999AA10123456784. The shipper code sits in a fixed position, so every parcel from the same retailer account opens with the same eight characters: 1Z plus the 6-character shipper code. That alone often tells you which of three pending orders a number belongs to.

Reading the service code: characters 9 and 10 name the service the shipper bought. You can read them before the first scan appears, which tells you whether the package flies or moves by ground.

Numbers that are not 1Z: UPS Mail Innovations uses a T and 10 digits. UPS sold UPS Freight to TFI International in 2021, and it now trades as TForce Freight, so track a freight PRO number with TForce Freight. Some international and legacy shipments carry 12 all-numeric digits. A number without the 1Z prefix still works. It tells you the parcel sits on a different UPS network, and on Mail Innovations it will finish with USPS.

The check digit does real work. UPS calculates the final character from the other 17. Mistype a 1Z number and it fails that check, so UPS rejects it rather than handing you someone else's parcel. If UPS calls your number invalid, read it again before you decide the shipment does not exist. Most errors come down to 0 for O, or 1 for I, inside the shipper code. Our UPS tracking statuses guide goes deeper on this.

How UPS Moves a Package Through Its Network

UPS routes most US air volume through Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky. An air package travelling Seattle to Portland can post a Kentucky scan overnight because of it. That surprises people more than anything else in UPS tracking, and it signals nothing wrong.

Ground transit follows the zone chart. UPS quotes Ground transit in business days between origin and destination zones. Ground also delivers to homes on Saturdays in many areas at no extra charge, worth checking before you pay for air.

UPS Ground Saver often hands off to USPS. This one has moved twice, and most guides are a year behind. After renaming SurePost as Ground Saver in 2025, UPS pulled the final mile fully in house after the USPS contract lapsed. UPS's quarterly reports for the first half of 2026 describe outsourcing the last-mile delivery of a portion of Ground Saver to USPS and cite the higher fees paid to the USPS. When USPS takes the last mile, the UPS record posts a transfer scan and then thins out, which explains most Ground Saver numbers that go quiet a day or two before delivery.

Reading UPS Scan Events

UPS uses its own scan vocabulary. Here is what each term means for your package.

Order Processed: Ready for UPS means the shipper created a label and paid for it. UPS does not hold the package yet. A number can sit here for days when a seller prints labels early, and calling UPS will not move it. Contact the seller.

Origin Scan is the first physical scan. UPS now holds the package.

Departure Scan and Arrival Scan mark a package leaving or reaching a facility. A cross-country Ground move should post several pairs. Gaps between them run long overnight and across weekends.

In Transit means the package moves between facilities with no new facility scan yet. UPS posts this rather than leaving the record blank.

Out For Delivery puts the package on a vehicle for today. UPS drivers deliver into the evening, so this status at 8am promises nothing about a morning delivery.

Exception flags an interrupted delivery: a bad address, weather, a customs hold, or a failed attempt. The scan detail names the reason, and that line matters far more than the word Exception.

Rescheduled and Receiver Requested a Later Delivery move delivery to a future date, either by UPS or by someone using UPS My Choice on that address.

Delivered records a delivery scan with date, time and location. UPS drivers photograph many residential deliveries, and tracking shows that photo. If the status reads delivered and nothing arrived, open the photo first. It often shows a neighbouring door.

When UPS Tracking Stops Updating

The first 24 to 48 hours. A new number with no scans usually means the label exists and nobody has collected the package. Give it a full business day before you treat it as a problem.

Check for a Ground Saver handoff. If the last scan mentions a transfer to the Post Office, USPS now has your package. Run the same number through USPS tracking, because UPS passes the reference across. Not every Ground Saver parcel goes this route, so the absence of a transfer scan means UPS still holds it.

Weekend and holiday gaps. UPS Ground skips Sundays, and most UPS facilities close on major US holidays. A Friday evening scan followed by silence until Monday is the pattern, not a delay.

Look for a UPS InfoNotice. A driver who attempts delivery leaves an InfoNotice carrying its own reference number. Enter that number at ups.com. It often holds more detail than the 1Z record, including where UPS is holding the package and until when.

Held at a UPS facility. UPS holds packages at Customer Centers for a limited window after a failed attempt, then returns them to the sender. Act on this status rather than waiting. Once the return scan posts, your only route is asking the shipper to send it again.

Recipients should contact the sender first. The shipper holds the UPS account and the contract. They can escalate through their UPS account team, which beats a recipient calling the general line at 1-800-742-5877.

UPS Claims: Deadlines, Eligibility and What Gets Paid

Two deadlines, not one. UPS asks you to report the problem within 60 days of the scheduled delivery date for a lost or damaged package, or where a C.O.D. payment never arrived. The formal claim then has nine months from that same date under the UPS Tariff for domestic shipments. International routes run shorter and vary by country. No waiting period applies before you report, and no 21-day rule exists. That one belongs to USPS.

Recipients can usually file. Most guides say only the shipper can, which is wrong. UPS lets a recipient or third-party shipper file as a guest at ups.com and calls guest filing the faster route for them. One caveat: the shipper's account settings can switch that off, so a recipient blocked at the form should go back to the seller. Payment goes to the shipper of record either way.

Standard coverage stops at $100, with one exception. Most UPS shipments carry $100 of carrier liability inside the shipping price, and you can declare value above that up to $50,000 per package. UPS Ground Saver is the exception: UPS cut its free coverage when it renamed the service, so check the current figure in your UPS terms before you assume $100. Declared value caps liability rather than insuring the item. UPS pays the lesser of the item's value and the declared amount, and pays nothing toward sentimental value, lost profit or consequential loss.

Two situations block a lost claim outright. Packages you authorised the driver to release, including a release set through UPS My Choice, lose eligibility. On Ground Saver, the exception scan showing handover to the Post Office ends UPS acceptance of claims. Both catch people after the fact.

Damage documentation, as UPS asks for it: three photos, covering the damaged item and how it sat inside the box, a close-up of the shipping label with the 1Z number, and the outside of the package showing any damage. Add the box height, length and width. Keep the packaging, because UPS may schedule an inspection.

Write the merchandise description properly. UPS wants brand, model, size, colour, quantity and container type. Electronics above $500 need a serial number, and UPS can close the investigation without one. Supply it later and the claim reopens.

Timeline: UPS resolves most claims in 8 to 10 business days unless it opens a deeper investigation. UPS now pays claims by electronic funds transfer, so an approved claim requires the shipper to enrol in EFT. Payment follows about 3 days after UPS receives and validates the payment documents.

Late delivery is a separate claim with a much shorter clock. A missed commitment on a guaranteed service is a refund request under the UPS Service Guarantee, not a lost-package claim. UPS's Terms require the payer to report the service failure within 15 calendar days from the scheduled delivery date. The shipper files, since the refund returns the shipping charge to whoever paid it. The guarantee is currently active only for Next Day Air Early, Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver, 2nd Day Air A.M. and the Worldwide Express and Saver services; it is suspended for Ground, 2nd Day Air, 3 Day Select and Ground Saver.

Claim statuses you will see: Claim Review in Progress, Shipment Inspection Scheduled, Claim Review Complete, and Claim Issued. Two denial states deserve attention: Claim Not Approved: Insufficient Merchandise Description and Claim Not Approved: Unable to Contact Receiver. Both reopen once you supply what UPS asked for.

Packing, addressing, insurance and documentation practices that apply to every carrier live in our shipping protection and claims guide. This page covers how UPS handles them.

People Also Ask About UPS Tracking

Can I track UPS packages without a tracking number?

No, you need a valid UPS tracking number to track packages. However, if you're the sender, you can log into your UPS account to view all your shipments. Recipients should contact the sender. UPS does not offer a lookup by address or name for privacy reasons. If you have a UPS InfoNotice left by a driver, its reference number works at ups.com even without the original 1Z number.

How accurate is UPS estimated delivery time?

The UPS Service Guarantee is currently active for the Next Day Air services, 2nd Day Air A.M. and the Worldwide Express and Saver services, so a late delivery on those qualifies for a refund request. For Ground, 2nd Day Air and 3 Day Select the guarantee is suspended. Treat the scheduled delivery date as firm and the time as a range: UPS routes are sequenced daily, so the same address can receive at 10 AM one day and 8 PM the next; Ground runs from 9 AM to 9 PM.

What time does UPS deliver?

UPS Ground packages generally arrive between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and many residential areas also get Saturday delivery. However, delivery times vary by location and service level. UPS Next Day Air Early delivers earlier. Residential Ground volume often arrives later in the day than commercial, because UPS sequences business stops around their opening hours. Saturday Ground delivery to homes is available in many areas at no extra charge. For Saturday delivery to a business, the shipper pays a fee unless the business has a Saturday Scheduled Pickup and opts in; UPS lists the current fee in its Rate and Service Guide.