The Basics of How Shipment Tracking Works

Many shipping companies allow their customers to track their parcels after they've been picked up by the courier, all the way until they arrive at the final destination. As advanced as these systems are, however, sometimes errors can still occur.

In case of a fault, not only may the sender be confused, but frustrated as well if the shipment takes far longer than it should have to be delivered.

In this article, we'll discuss the basics of how shipping tracking works for parcel companies and its common hurdles, as well as discuss our tracking process.

Parcel tracking is a common service offered by most couriers today. It relies on simple barcode scanning and automatic database updates, letting people monitor their delivery from pickup to final destination.

At Ecoparcel, we use an identical tracking system. After you request a quote and choose a partner offer, you receive a generated ID number to track your shipment.

Note: After pickup, you may not see new updates for up to 24 hours while partners perform initial manual scans. After that, regular updates continue until delivery.

The main and most obvious goal of a parcel tracking system is to inform the sender with details about their shipment from the moment it's been picked up by the courier until it reaches the destination point. This includes estimated delivery date and time, status, and so on.

The whole system functions with the purpose of estimating when delivery will occur by constantly monitoring the movement of the package from one place to another—all to ensure maximum comfort for clients when they choose a courier firm.

When you order a shipment, the company's website generates a barcode for your parcel, which you attach to it. This barcode is scanned and reported as your parcel travels between waypoints.

As the shipment moves through delivery points, couriers scan the barcode at each stop. After each scan, the information updates on the courier's website, allowing the customer to see real-time status.

After each scan, the info is stored in the database. This includes timestamps, locations, and routing details.

Each time the parcel is scanned at a storage point, the database updates. The final update informs the user that the parcel has successfully arrived at its destination.