Package tracking or package logging is the process of localizing shipping containers,

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

and parcel post at different points of time during sorting, warehousing, and

package delivery Package delivery, or parcel delivery, is the delivery of shipping containers, parcels, or high-value mail in single shipments. The service is provided by most postal systems, express mail, private courier companies, and less-than-truckload shipp ...

to verify their

provenance Provenance () is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including archaeology, p ...

and to predict and aid delivery. Package tracking developed historically because it provided customers information about the route of a package and the anticipated date and time of delivery.Mark Esse
Industry Developed Temperature Tracking Device for Packages May Have Climate Metrology Applications

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...

Beat, June 7, 2011 This was important because mail delivery often included multiple carriers in varying environmental circumstances, which made it possible for a mail to get lost.Herbert Joyc
The History of the Post Office from Its Establishment Down to 1836
London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1893

Identification

Mail tracking is made possible through certified mail and

registered mail Registered mail is a postal service in many countries which allows the sender proof of mailing via a receipt and, upon request, electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made. Depending on the country, ...

, additional postal services that require the identity of a piece of mail to be recorded during various points of delivery, so that the sender can obtain a proof of delivery and the receiver can predict the time of delivery. The service is provided for an additional charge but recently free service has been introduced as the cost of the associated technology has been decreasing. Initially, a piece of mail was identified by the sending date and the addresses of the sender and the recipient; later tracking numbers came to be used for identification.

Traceability Traceability is the capability to trace something. In some cases, it is interpreted as the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification. Other common definitions include the capa ...

has been improved even further by barcoding: by non-specific 1D linear barcodes and 2D matrix barcodes and specialized augmented postal codes such as Postal Alpha Numeric Encoding Technique (PLANET), Postal Numeric Encoding Technique (POSTNET) and Intelligent Mail barcode, and other

electronic product code The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is designed as a universal identifier (using an idiosyncratic numerical code for each different commodity) that provides a unique identity for every physical object anywhere in the world, for all time. The EPC s ...

s (EPC-s).

Methods

To identify the location of the mail, two methods have been used. One approach involves reporting the arrival or departure of the package and recording the identity of the package, the location, the time, and the status. This approach has been used for package tracking provided by the delivery companies, such as

Deutsche Post (, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...

, AirRoad, or

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

. Another approach is to use a GPS-based vehicle tracking system and nowadays Beacons to locate the vehicle that contains the package and record it in a real-time database. As package tracking technologies have evolved, it has also become possible to increase the amount of information and metrics returned about a package and to report beside its location also temperature, humidity, pressure, acceleration, elevation and exposure to light at different time points—factors that are important for delicate or perishable contents.

Querying and reporting

Web-based package tracking has been used from the early days of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

Laurie Flyn
Companies Use Web Hoping to Save Millions

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

July 17, 1995 to automate customer service and as a cheaper alternative to phone-based

call center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

s, providing the ability to track the status of a package "within minutes". The service became quickly popular: for UPS the number of packages tracked on the web increased from 600 a day in 1995 to 3.3 million a day in 1999. On-line package tracking became available for all major carrier companies, and was improved by the emergence of websites that offered consolidated tracking for different mail carriers. With the rise of smart phones, package tracking

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

s were able to send tracking info to customers' cell phones. With improved data processing, e-mail programs were able to automatically detect tracking numbers in messages and receipts and print the real time location of the package.

Internal package tracking

Most traditional package tracking systems do not track packages after a package is dropped off at a centralized mail services center with single-point delivery, such as the ones used at apartment complexes, college residence halls, corporate mailrooms,

post-office box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door-to-door delivery ...

stores and mail and parcel centers. These mail services centers receive all incoming mail and sort it; the mail may then be delivered to individual recipients or the recipients may have to pick up the mail themselves. To cover that gap and track a package at different points within the internal delivery process, specialized internal or "inbound" package tracking systems have been developed. These systems log in the packages that arrive by recording the items from different carrier companies, the time the delivery is made, the name of the recipient, tracking number and other data. The recipients are notified of the packages or sent reminders. Once the package is received by the end recipient, the systems record the

timestamp A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, usually giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a small fraction of a second. Timestamps do not have to be based on some absolu ...

, the recipient

signature A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, Handwriting, handwritt ...

and method of authentication and the package is logged out. Several technologies have evolved with slightly different features (Winn Solutions or WITS, PackageLog, PakLog, SCLogic, TekTrack, Oden Industries, Inc. (PacTrac), WTS by Quadient and others), including patented solutions.John Corneliu
Inbound package tracking systems and methods
United states Patents April 8, 2003

References

External links