How Do I Track a Package Safely?

What this helps with: Finding out where your package is, getting delivery notices you can trust, and knowing what to do if it says “Delivered” but it isn’t there.

The short answer: Track your package from the store where you ordered it, or type the delivery company’s real web address yourself. Don’t use links in texts you didn’t expect. You can also sign up for free delivery notices from the Post Office, UPS, and FedEx.

Step 1: Find your tracking number the safe way

Your tracking number is a long string of letters and numbers. Look for it in one of these places:

• The store’s app or website. Open the store’s app, or type its web address yourself. Go to Your Orders or Order History. Tap the order, then look for Track Package or Track Order.
• Your order email. Look for an email from the store that says your order “shipped.” It usually shows the tracking number and which company is bringing it.
• Your paper receipt, if you mailed something at a Post Office or shipping store.

Only use a tracking number from your own order. Never use one from a text or email you didn’t expect. See Is This Package Delivery Text a Scam?

Step 2: Check the delivery company’s real website

The store’s order page often shows tracking right there. If not, type the delivery company’s address yourself, then type in your tracking number:

• usps.com for the Post Office
• ups.com for UPS
• fedex.com for FedEx
• Amazon orders: open the Amazon app or amazon.com, tap Your Orders, then Track package.

What you’ll tap: The box that says Track or Tracking. Type the number, then tap Track.

Step 3: Get free delivery notices you can trust

Each of these is free to sign up for. Go to the real website yourself. Don’t sign up through a link in a text.

• USPS Informed Delivery. A free Post Office service. Each morning it can email you a preview of the mail and packages coming to your home that day. It shows gray pictures of the front of your letters, too. You sign up at usps.com (look for Informed Delivery), check that your address can use it, and prove who you are. USPS says notices usually start within 3 business days.
• UPS My Choice. The free Basic plan sends delivery alerts and photos of where your package was left, and lets you tell the driver where to leave it.
• FedEx Delivery Manager. Free to sign up. It sends text and email alerts, lets you give delivery instructions, and can hold your packages for up to 14 days while you’re away.

Once you sign up, real notices come from the company you chose. Still, if a message asks for money, a card number, or a password, stop. Open the app or website yourself to check.

What the tracking words mean

• Label created or Pre-shipment: The seller made a shipping label, but the package may not have left yet.
• In transit: It’s on the way.
• Out for delivery: It should come today. USPS says it may arrive later in the day than your regular mail.
• Delivered: The company marked it as dropped off.
• Notice left or Delivery attempted: Nobody could take it. Look for a note on your door, then follow the steps on the company’s real website.

It says “Delivered,” but it isn’t there

Don’t panic. Packages often turn up soon.

1. Look around your home. Check the porch, back door, garage, under a mat, and behind bushes or planters. USPS says the carrier may have put it somewhere safer.
2. Check your mailbox again later. USPS packages can come separately from your regular mail.
3. Look for a key in your mailbox. In some apartment mailboxes, a key means your package is in a bigger locker nearby.
4. Ask people in your home, your neighbors, or your building’s front office.
5. Check the delivery photo, if the tracking page shows one.
6. Give it a little time. Amazon says packages can be scanned as delivered up to 48 hours before they actually arrive.
7. Then ask for help:
   • Post Office: If more than one postal business day has passed since the “Delivered” scan, USPS says to send a request to your local Post Office from the Contact Us page on usps.com. You can also call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).
   • Amazon: If Amazon shipped it, contact Amazon within 30 days of the expected delivery date. If another seller shipped it, contact that seller from Your Orders.
   • Other stores: Contact the store through its own website or app. They can often send a new one or give your money back.

Keep packages safer at your door

• Pick a safe spot. UPS and FedEx let you tell the driver where to leave packages. Amazon lets you add delivery instructions in Your Orders.
• Have it held for pickup. UPS and FedEx can send a package to a nearby store for you to pick up. Bring a photo ID.
• Going away? Use FedEx’s free Vacation Hold, or ask a neighbor to bring packages in.

Watch out for fake tracking messages

Scammers send texts that say a package is stuck, or that you owe a small fee. Real tracking doesn’t need your card number to bring a package you already paid for. Don’t tap the link. Check your order the safe way above. See Is This Package Delivery Text a Scam? and How to Spot a Scam.

Official sources

• USPS: Where is my package? Tracking status help
• USPS: Informed Delivery
• USPS: Missing Mail and Lost Packages
• UPS: UPS My Choice
• FedEx: FedEx Delivery Manager
• FedEx: Vacation Hold
• Amazon: Tracking your package
• Amazon: Find a missing package that shows as delivered

Last checked: Oct 27, 2026

This is general help, not personalized tech support. It covers the U.S. Store and delivery company steps can change, so follow what their real app or website shows.