Fifteen years ago, sending a letter or parcel, all that remained was to wait patiently for an answer. It was almost impossible to find out any information about where the correspondence is.
Letters came to the wrong address, returned to the sender, or simply disappeared. If the package was lost, you had to go to the post office, write a statement about the loss and wait for months to get any information about it.
Fortunately, technology is evolving, production and processes are being automated. Similar changes have affected delivery services operating around the world. Mail is no exception. Tracking is a great opportunity for any person to control the movement of their departure. Obviously, such control has many advantages.
What is tracking and what is it for?
The word "track" (follow, observe) came from the English language, and in relation to mail means the ability to control the location of the item via the Internet. This service greatly simplifies the work of the delivery service. At the same time, we can talk about improving the quality of its work, since tracking:
- makes it easier to find the loss, monitor delays in correspondence, thereby reducing delivery time, and minimizes the number of complaints and litigations initiated by customers;
- helps to reduce the number of calls from senders and recipients to customer service in order to obtain data on where the parcels and shipments are at a given time.
This is the answer to the question of what tracking is.
How it works
A mailing number is assigned a tracking number, information about it is applied to its packaging (envelope, box or box). When it passes through checkpoints, such as marshalling yards, airport terminals, customs control posts, and so on, the identifier is scanned and the information gets into a common database, which displays the history of all movements of the given item.
The user, entering a request containing a tracking number, on the corresponding site sees information on the list of cut-offs passed and the time at which this happened.
If you know what tracking is and where you can find the corresponding identification number, there will be no problems with determining the location of your correspondence. Also, the assigned code is proof that the shipment was made. An obvious advantage of tracking is that mail tracking of correspondence can be carried out without leaving your home.
Whether all correspondence is assigned a tracking number
In the United States and many European countries, all shipments receive an identifier. In Russia, the number is assigned to registered correspondence (with declared value or registered).
What does the tracking number look like
Domestic shipments in Russia have an identifier consisting of 14 digits, and information about it is contained in the receipt received when sending it to the post office. The marking of foreign correspondence looks somewhat different and consists of an alphanumeric code (2 letters, 9 digits, 2 letters).
Can a departure be lost
The introduction of a tracking system did not eliminate such situations, but their number was noticeably reduced. There are times when a parcel is assigned a number, but it does not move to its destination, and then it turns out to the recipient. In any case, having an idea of what tracking is and how to track correspondence, the mail service client can notice possible delivery problems on time.
The delivery time for any shipment is strictly regulated, both fully and separately for each control point. Thus, when a parcel is delayed, for example, in sorting, tracking information is the reason for the official submission of an application for the loss of correspondence.