Royal Mail tracking packages and shipments

Keep track of Royal Mail parcels and shipments with our free service! All you need to do to track your parcel, is to enter the tracking number, and then the service will keep track of your parcel’s location in real time.

How do I track my Royal Mail parcel with 100Parcels.com?

Find out the tracking number of your parcel;
Enter the tracking number of your parcel in the field at the top of the page;
Wait until the service checks the parcel data, it will not take long;
View the search results and share them with your friends via social networking;
If you enter your email address, we can notify you automatically of changes to the status of your parcel.

Royal Mail - Tracking number format

A# *** *** *** GB
F# *** *** *** GB
G# *** *** *** GB
J# *** *** *** GB
K# *** *** *** GB
L# *** *** *** GB
M# *** *** *** GB
N# *** *** *** GB
Q# *** *** *** GB
R# *** *** *** GB
S# *** *** *** GB
V# *** *** *** GB
W# *** *** *** GB
X# *** *** *** GB
Y# *** *** *** GB
Z# *** *** *** GB

# - letter; * - digit; ! - letter or digit

How to Track Parcels of Royal Mail

If you need to track your parcels of Royal Mail, then you can use our universal package tracking service. To do so, you need your Royal Mail tracking number. Royal Mail makes it easy to understand where your parcels are on their journey to you.

The reason Royal Mail is able to tell you information about your parcel’s location is because your package is scanned at many points while it is on its way to you.

When you track your package using our service, you will be told information about your package. Royal Mail uses statuses to tell you where your package is and what your next steps should be.

The Meanings of Royal Mail Tracking Statuses

Advised

If you are told that your parcel is advised, then this means that your package has been sent into Royal Mail’s system. This means that your parcel is a part of the Royal Mail network and will soon be getting a tracking scan.

Once your parcel gets its tracking scan, its status will change to “In Progress”.

Advised to Collect from a Post Office

If you track your package using our service and you get a message stating “Addressee advised to collect from a post office,” that means that your package could not be delivered and should be picked up at your local post office.

The delivery driver should have left a note behind at the location you wanted your package to be delivered.

The top reason why parcels are marked as not deliverable is because you or someone else was not around to provide a signature when one was needed.

To avoid having to pick your parcel up from the post office, then you should make sure that you or someone else is available to sign for your package.

Attempted Delivery

If the parcel status that you receive states “Attempted Delivery,” that means a delivery driver tried to deliver your package but could not due to no one being present to sign for it.

This status is different from the “Addressee advised to collect from a post office” status because your package may not be taken to a post office if an attempted delivery fails.

Parcels that could not be delivered may be taken to the post office, but they can also be taken back to the Royal Mail depot or to the person who sent you the package.

If your tracking status says “Attempted Delivery,” then you should have been left a note by the delivery driver telling you where your package is and what you need to do next.

In transit

If your tracking status says “In Transit” your package is traveling through the Royal Mail network and is no longer sitting at its original location. You can get more information about the specific location of your parcels by typing in your reference number.

Delivered to your address or a neighbor

If your status says that your package has been “Delivered to your address or a neighbor,” this means that your Royal Mails parcels have either been signed for at your home and left behind for you to have, or it has been given to your neighbor to hold until you are able to pick it up.

If your package is left with a neighbor, then you should have a card titled “Something for you” left behind for you by your mail delivery driver. This card should tell you where your parcel is. You may also get this message even if your package was left at your place of work or your personal business.

If you cannot find your package or a card at your work location or your business location then you should check with your colleagues or the post room of your office to make sure your parcel has not been picked up by someone else or moved.

Reasons Why You May Not Be Able to Track Your Package

There are a couple reasons why you may not be able to get information about your parcels when you try to track them with your tracking number.

One of the more common reasons why you may not get updates about your package is because enough time has not passed for information about your parcel to have been added to the system so updates are not ready yet.

Another reason why you may not be getting information about your package when trying to search for it is because you are typing your tracking number in wrong.

Make sure that your are typing in the correct tracking number in order to get the best results from our tracking service.

Royal Mail Tracking Numbers

Royal Mail tracking number usually start with two letters and end with two letters, and the final two letters are always “GB”. in between the four letters are nine numbers grouped into three groups of three.

This is an example of what a Royal Mail tracking number looks like: AN 123 456 789 GB

The History of Royal Mail

In 1516, Henry VII created a position that he called the “Master of the Posts”. This position was later turned into the office of the Postmaster General. About a century later, in 1635, Charles I introduced the first public mail service.

This postal service was available to the public at a price that was paid by the recipients of mail.

About two decades later, in 1654, a monopoly over England’s mail delivery service was granted by Oliver Cromwell granted. This monopoly was given to the “Office of Postage”.

Fixed postal rates were introduced in 1657, and in 1660, the general Post office was created by Charles II.

Postage date stamps were used for the first time in 1661, and the first Postmaster General was also appointed.

1784 saw the introduction of the first mail coach. It traveled between London and Bristol. The first mail coaches were similar to the typical family carriages used at that time. The main difference between the two was the fact the early mail coaches bore the post office livery.

In 1793, postmen who wore uniforms first started delivering mail to English citizens, and in 1830, the first mail train made its first deliveries from Liverpool to Manchester Railway.

Rowland Hill, a Birmingham schoolmaster, invented the adhesive postage stamp in 1837. Rowland Hill was later knighted for his invention.

The post office money order system was first introduced in 1838, and in 1840, the Penny Black, the first adhesive postage stamp, was made available to the public nationally.

In 1969, following the Post Office Act of 1969, the General Post Office was changed to a nationalized industry so that it would no longer be a government department, and in 1986, Post Office Group was created.

Post office Group consisted of the letter delivery, the post office, and the parcel delivery sections of the mail service. Post Office Group separated them into three individual businesses.

In 2001, the Post Office Group was renamed as Consignia, and in 2002 it was again renamed as Royal Mail.

Royal Mail lost its monopoly in the postal service industry in 2006. This meant that competitors could then transport mail and give it to Royal Mail.

In 2015, the United kingdom government sold their last stakes in Royal Mail. This sale of the United Kingdom government’s 30 percent stake in Royal Mail marked the end of Royal Mail’s public ownership. Royal Mail was publically owned for 499 years previously to this sale.

Royal Mail Market Share

Since losing its monopoly, Royal Mail’s market share in the postal service industry in England has dropped significantly.

In 2017, Royal Mail held only 47 percent of the United Kingdom postal service market share, and in 2019, its percentage of shares in the market dropped to their lowest after a period of delivering fewer letter.

Royal Mail’s decline in market share is also the result of strong competition from our courier service businesses like TNT Mail and DHL Global Mail.

Royal Mail Company Size

Royal Mail currently employees approximately 162,000 people. 143,000 of these jobs ore based in the United Kingdom. 90,000 of Royal Mail’s employees are postmen and postwomen. Royal Mail also has 18,000 seasonal workers who are employed during high business times such as the Christmas season from November to December.

Royal Mail Branches

Royal Mail has 1,356 delivery offices, and its headquarters are in London at 100 Victoria Embankment. In 2016, Royal Mail had 38 mail centres that were operating, and they may still be active today. These mail centres are divided between five regions: East, West, South East, South West, and North.

The mail centres in the Eastern region are located in the following areas: Ipswich, Chelmsford, Sheffield, Peterborough, Norwich, South Midlands (Northampton), Nottingham, and Romford.

The mail centres in the Western region are located in these areas: Birmingham, Warrington, Chester, North West Midlands (Wolverhampton), Manchester, and Preston.

The mail centres in the South Eastern region are located here: Croydon, Greenford, Gatwick (Crawley), Jubilee (Hounslow), Mount Pleasant, Home Counties North (Hemel Hempstead), and Medway.

The mail centres in the South Western region are located in these 9 areas: Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Cardiff, Swansea, Dorset (Poole), Southampton, Truro, and Swindon.

The mail centres in the Northern region are located here: Aberdeen, Tyneside (Gateshead), Edinburgh, Inverness, Glasgow, Carlisle, Leeds, and Northern Ireland (Newtownabbey).

Royal Mail delivers parcels to more than 200 countries around the world.

Royal Mail - information about carrier

Royal Mail Group plc (Welsh: Post Brenhinol; Scottish Gaelic: a' Phuist Rìoghail; Cornish: Postya Riel) is a postal service and carrier business in the United Kingdom, originally established in 1516. The business's subsidiary Royal Mail Group Limited operates the brand names Royal Mail (letters) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels).

The company offers mail collection and shipment services throughout the UK. Parcels and letters are transferred in a post or parcel boxes or are collected wholesale from organisations, this is then transferred to Royal Mail arranging workplaces. Royal Mail owns and keeps the UK's distinct red pillar boxes, initially introduced in 1852, many of which bear the initials of the reigning queen. Shipments are made a minimum of once every day other than Sundays and bank holidays at consistent charges for all UK destinations. Royal Mail usually intends to make top-notch deliveries the next business day throughout the country.

For most of its history, the Royal Mail was a public service, running as a government department or public corporation. Following the Postal Services Act 2011, [4] [5] a bulk of the shares in Royal Mail were floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2013. The UK government initially kept a 30% stake in Royal Mail, but sold its remaining shares in 2015, ending 499 years of state ownership. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The Royal Mail can trace its history back to 1516 when Henry VIII developed a "Master of the Posts", a position that was renamed "Postmaster General" in 1710.

Upon his accession to the throne of England at the Union of the Crowns in 1603, James VI moved his court to London. Among his very first acts from London was to develop the royal postal service between London and Edinburgh, in an attempt to keep control over the Scottish Privy Council.

The Royal Mail service was initially made available to the general public by Charles I on 31 July 1635, with postage being paid by the recipient. The monopoly was farmed out to Thomas Witherings.

In the 1640s Parliament eliminated the monopoly from Witherings and during the Civil War and First Commonwealth the parliamentary postal service was performed at terrific profit for himself by Edmund Prideaux (a popular parliamentarian and legal representative who increased to be attorney-general). To keep his monopoly in those struggling times Prideaux improved effectiveness and utilized both unlawful methods and legal obstacles.

In 1653 Parliament set aside all previous grants for postal services, and contracts were let for the inland and foreign mails to John Manley. Manley was provided a monopoly on the postal service, which was effectively implemented by Protector Oliver Cromwell's federal government, and thanks to the improvements necessitated by the war Manley ran a much enhanced Post Office service. In July 1655 the Post Office was put under the direct federal government control of John Thurloe, a Secretary of State, and best understood to history as Cromwell's spymaster general. Previous English governments had actually tried to prevent conspirators interacting, Thurloe chose to deliver their post having surreptitiously read it. As the Protectorate claimed to govern all of Great Britain and Ireland under one unified government, on 9 June 1657 the Second Protectorate Parliament (which consisted of Scottish and Irish MPs) passed the "Act for settling the Postage in England, Scotland and Ireland" that created one monopoly Post Office for the entire area of the Commonwealth. The first Postmaster General was appointed in 1661, and a seal was very first fixed to the mail.

At the repair of the monarchy, in 1660, all the ordinances and acts passed by parliaments during the Civil War and the Interregnum passed into oblivion, so the General Post Office (GPO) was formally established by Charles II in 1660.

Between 1719 and 1763, Ralph Allen, postmaster at Bath, signed a series of agreements with the post office to establish and expand Britain's postal network. He organized mail coaches which were offered by both Wilson & Company of London and Williams & Company of Bath. The early Royal Mail Coaches resembled normal household coaches but with Post Office livery.

The first mail coach ran in 1784, operating in between Bristol and London. Shipment staff got uniforms for the very first time in 1793, and the Post Office Investigation Branch was established. The very first mail train ran in 1830, on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The Post Office's cash order system was introduced in 1838.

Services:

Universal service: Royal Mail is needed by law to preserve the universal service, where items of a particular size can be sent to any location within the United Kingdom for a fixed cost, not affected by distance. The Postal Services Act 2011 ensured that Royal Mail would continue to provide the universal service up until a minimum of 2021.
Special Delivery: Royal Mail Special Delivery is an expedited mail service that guarantees shipment by 1 pm or 9 am the next day for an increased cost. On the occasion that the item does not show up on time, there is a money-back assurance. It guarantees goods to the worth of ₤ 50 for 9 am or ₤ 500 for 1 pm to ₤ 2,500 (for either service).
Business services: The Royal Mail runs, together with its stamped mail services, another sector of post called company mail. The large majority of Royal Mail's organisation mail service is for PPI or franked mail, where the sender prints their own 'stamp'. For PPI mail this involves either an easy rubber stamp and an ink pad, or a printed label. For franked mail, a devoted franking machine is used. Bulk organisation mail, utilizing Mailmark innovation, [88] draws in decreased rates of as much as 32%, if the sender prints an RM4SCC barcode, or prints the address in a specified position on the envelope utilizing a font understandable by optical character recognition (OCR) equipment.
Prohibited products: Royal Mail will not carry a variety of items which it states might be harmful for its personnel or vehicles. In addition, a list of 'restricted' products can be published subject to conditions. Prohibited goods consist of alcoholic, combustible or corrosive solids or liquids, gases, managed drugs, indecent or offending materials, and people and animals remain. In 2004 Royal Mail used to the then postal regulator Postcomm to ban the carriage of sporting firearms, stating they caused interruption to the network, that a restriction would assist cops with guns manage, which ease of gain access to implied the letters network was a target of wrongdoers. Postcomm released an assessment on the proposed modifications in December 2004, to which 62 people and organizations responded. In June 2005 Postcomm chose to decline the application on the premises that Royal Mail had not supplied sufficient proof that carrying guns caused undue disturbance or that a restriction would decrease the variety of illegal weapons. It likewise said a ban would cause unnecessary hardship to businesses and individuals. In August 2012 Royal Mail once again attempted to forbid the carriage of all guns, air rifles and air handguns from 30 November 2012. It mentioned Section 14( 1) of the 1998 Firearms (Amendment) Act, which needs carriers of firearms to "take affordable precautions" for their safe custody and argued that to comply would involve disproportionate cost. A Royal Mail public consultation document on the modifications stated: "We anticipate the influence on customers to be minimal". The proposals provoked a large unfavorable reaction following a campaign led by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and backed by many shooting-related sites and organizations. An overall of 1,458 individuals offered their views in emails and letters sent out to Royal Mail. An online petition opposing the proposals was signed by 2,236 people, 1,742 of whom added comments. In the face of such opposition, Royal Mail dropped the proposals in December 2012.
Unaddressed advertising mail delivery: Royal Mail's "Door to door" service supplies delivery of leaflets, sales brochures, brochures and other print products to groups of domestic and service addresses selected by postal code. Such deliveries are made by the mail provider together as part of the day-to-day round. [96] Business utilizing the "Door to door" service consist of Virgin Media, BT, Sky, Talk Talk, Farmfoods, Domino's Pizza, Direct Line and Morrisons. In 2005 the service provided 3.3 billion items. The "Door to door" service does not utilize the UK Mailing Preference Service - rather, Royal Mail runs its own opt-out database. [99] Cautions about missing federal government communications are offered by Royal Mail to customers pulling out of their service have actually been slammed by consumers and consumer groups. If they had actually opted out, clarification offered by the business in June 2015 explained that election interactions and unaddressed federal government mail would be delivered to consumers even.

Royal Mail - Parcel tracking statuses

Item Despatched to Wembley Highs DO
Sent At Post Office
On its way TO Minsk Belarus
Shipment confirmation
Processing, Arrival at inward office of exchange
At delivery office - Newbury PDO
At delivery office - Swansea PDO (section A and B)
ARRIVED AT SWANSEA MAIL CENTRE
At delivery office - Ruislip PDO
Due to be delivered today
ARRIVED ATLEEDS MAIL CENTRE
Collected
Accepted at Post Office
On its way to Swansea mail centre
Arrived at Bradford Valley parcel delivery office
ARRIVED AT MANCHESTER MAIL CENTRE
On its way to Wembley PDO
Arrived in Roissy
At delivery office - Leagrave PDO
Item has left our International Processing Centre
ARRIVED AT CROYDON MAIL CENTRE
On its way to Tashkent Uzbekistan
ARRIVED AT GREENFORD MAIL CENTRE
ARRIVED AT CROYDON PDO
Delivered - Signature
On its way Tobeverley PDO
ARRIVED ATWEMBLEY PDO
At delivery office - Бернли PDO
Arrived in country – Tallinn, Estonia
On its way To Birmingham mail centre
At delivery office - East Oxford PDO
On its way to Selby PDO
At delivery office - Armagh PDO
On its way to Los Angeles USA
On its way to Beijing China
On its way Toislamabad Pakistan
On its way to Ruislip PDO
Delivery attempt
ARRIVED ATNOTTINGHAM MAIL CENTRE
On its way to North West Midlands MC
On its way to Sheffield mail centre
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYMILAN
Prepared for despatch to the UK
Undelivered - missed delivery
Item Despatched to National Return Centre
On its way Toleagrave PDO
On its way Todorset mail centre
On its way todo not fly - NRC
At delivery office - Hastings PDO
On its way Togls Czech REP
On its way TOHWDC signed for road 2
Outbound in sorting center
On Its Way To Kennedy, New York
Delivered - No signature
On its way to Redditch PDO
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYGLS CZECH REP
On its way TOHWDC signed for road 3
ARRIVED ATROMFORD MAIL CENTRE
Arrived (MDN)
Item Collected
On its way to Tallinn Estonia
At delivery office - Garforth PDO
At delivery office - Harlow PDO
On its way to Shepherds bush PDO
Exported from the UK
Ready for Delivery Notification
Undelivered - addressee has PO box
ARRIVED ATVICTORIA PDO
Processed Through Facility
On its way to Romford mail centre
On its way to Smethwick PDO
On its way To Almaty
Item has left the overseas International Processing Centre
At delivery office - Llanelli PDO
Arrived in country -Tel Aviv, Israel
In Transit to Destination
On its way Tomanchester mail centre
On its way to Swindon mail centre
Item Leaving the UK
Undelivered - Addressee Has PO Box
On its way Tobroadstairs PDO
At delivery office - Bognor-Regis PDO
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYALMATY
On its way to Vilnius Lithuania
At delivery office - Boston PDO
ARRIVED ATTYNESIDE MAIL CENTRE
On its way to Toronto Canada
On its way To Boston PDO
On route to hub
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYMOSCOW (PCI-21)
On its way Tocroydon PDO
Arrived in Country - Kennedy New York
Arrived in the UK
On its way Tokennedy New York
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYGLS POLAND
ARRIVED ATSELBY PDO
On its way To Cardiff mail centre
On its way to Southampton mail centre (PO)
On its way Togarforth PDO
On its way to Wallasey PDO
ARRIVED ATWARRINGTON MAIL CENTRE
On its way to Nottingham mail centre
On its way Tokiev comm. of Ind. states
Arrived in Riga office of exchange, Latvia
On its way to West Reading PDO
Delivered
On its way To Bristol South PDO
At delivery office - Wisbech PDO
Arrived at chelmsford mail centre
Suspected dangerous goods
ARRIVED ATPRESTON MAIL CENTRE
At delivery office - Central Manchester PDO
Arrived in country – Seoul, South Korea
Processing, Departure from inward office of exchange
ARRIVED AT JUBILEE MAIL CENTRE
On delivery
Item Despatched to Burnley DO
On its way to Morpeth PDO
Awaiting Customs clearance
Handed over to customs
On its way tonight to early shift Handover
Arrived at Unit
Delivery attempt - unknown delivery reason
Prepared for export
Despatched to the UK
Export of international mail
Item due for Redelivery
On its way to Singapore
On its way Toriga of Latvia
Delivered. Your item was delivered
Processing of international mail, Forwarded to the carrier
On its way to Warsaw Poland
Inbound in sorting center
Arrived (MDN) AT
On route to delivery depot
On its way Tomedway mail centre (ME)
Delivered and Signed
On its way to West Kensington PDO
On its way To Croydon mail centre
On its way to Roissy CTCI IMP RAP
Sender preparing item
At delivery office - West Reading PDO
On its way Tollanelli PDO
Delivery Attempted - No Answer
On its way Togls Germany
On its way to Victoria PDO
ARRIVED ATREDDITCH PDO
At delivery office - Smethwick PDO
On its way to Winton PDO
On its way to Norwich mail centre
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYKENNEDY NEW YORK
Arrived at Chester mail centre
On its way Tohornchurch PDO
On its way to Newbury PDO
At delivery office - Morpeth PDO
On its way Tobradford South PDO
At delivery office - Mastrick PDO
On its way to Chelmsford mail centre
Available for Redelivery or Collection
Arrived in Country - Torino Italy
Sorted for export
Pre-advice Received
Arrived at
On its way to Peterborough mail centre
On its way Tohavant PDO
ON ITS WAY TO BELFAST MAIL CENTRE
Arrived (MDN) AT
On its way Togls Poland
Tracked in destination country
On its way to Swansea PDO (section a and b)
Delivered and signed
Arrived at cardiff mail centre
On its way to Wisbech PDO
At delivery office - Kings-Lynn PDO
ARRIVED ATSOUTHAMPTON MAIL CENTRE
Item received
On its way To Chepstow PDO
On its way Toburnley PDO
On its way Toleeds mail centre
On its way Tomastrick PDO
On its way Tobognor regis PDO
Sorted
Processing, Arrival at transit office of exchange
At delivery office – Shepherds-Bush PDO
Processing, Sorting
Arrived in country - Singapore
On its way To Kings Lynn PDO
On its way to Barajas Spain
At delivery office - Broadstairs PDO
On its way To Bristol mail centre
Accepted at Inward Mail Centre
On its way TOHWDC Airsure
Sales Order Raised
Processing, Departed from origin facility
ARRIVED ATPETERBOROUGH MAIL CENTRE
Arrived in the UK
Item Received
On its way to Ballyclare PDO
Inbound Out of Customs
Recipient collected
Item Despatched to Royal Mail site
Item Despatched to Heathrow Worldwide DC
Released from Customs
Item received
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYGLS GERMANY
On its way Toheathrow worldwide DC
On its way To Hong Kong
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYMILAN ITALY
On its way to Tyneside mail centre
Acceptance, Single
Outward - RDC Volumetric Acceptance
On its way to Paddington PDO
Item Leaving overseas
Item Received by Royal Mail
On its way To Glasgow mail centre
On Its Way To Toronto, Canada
On its way to Armagh PDO
Available for Pickup
Accepted by carrier
Delivered by
On its way Tokensington PDO
On its way To Bournemouth PDO
Arrived at Coventry city north parcel delivery office
On its way to Seoul South Korea
Delivery Made Notification
Identifier assignment
ARRIVED ATMEDWAY MAIL CENTRE
On its way to Beirut Lebanon
On its way Tohastings PDO
Item Despatched to Harlow DO
Ready For Delivery
ARRIVED ATDORSET MAIL CENTRE
On its way to Preston mail centre
Arrived at Delivery Office
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYDELIVERY OFFICE
Item Despatched to Lichfield DO
On its way Tocambridge PDO
Address incomplete or incorrect return to sender
Your item is currently with Customs in the destination country
On Its Way To Worldwide Distribution Center Heathrow
On its way To Chester mail centre
Item Despatched to Tong Road DO
On its way To Jubilee mail centre
Undelivered - not at address, office closed
At delivery office - Bristol South PDO
ARRIVED IN COUNTRYMINSK BELARUS
On its way too early to late shift handover
Incorrectly addressed. Returned to sender
Sent at post office
Arrived Atbelfast mail centre
On its way Todelivery office
ARRIVED IN COUNTRY BEIRUT LEBANON
On its way toeast Oxford PDO
On its way To Milan Italy
On its way Toharlow PDO
Waiting for pickup
Arrived in destination country
Sender despatching item
Item collected
At delivery office
Acceptance
Accepted at Outward Mail Centre
Customs clearance, Released by custom house
On its way to Tel Aviv Israel
Undelivered - item wrongly directed
On its way Tolarnaka