Mailman Tracker | Where Is My Mail? [Ways to Find Out]

aboelkheir

2 years ago

You might wonder whether the mailman is on his way to your area if you’re waiting for a piece of mail – especially an important one. Post offices have a routine of mail delivery they follow to avoid mistakes and ensure effective delivery to all areas.

It’s common to find yourself asking Where is my mailman, or when is the mailman coming to my area? To secure mail, and decrease mail theft and the risk of someone else handling your letters, mail carriers deliver only to the mailbox or PO Box. Therefore, if you know where your mail carrier is, you can easily receive your mail once it arrives at your address.

In today’s piece, we’re going to talk extensively about how to know when your mail carrier is en route and also give you a better alternative that will save you from the hassle of waiting for a mail carrier.

Grab a hot coffee as you read on Ways to Find Your Mailman. Let’s go! ☕

Can I Track My Mailman?

If you’re eager to receive a piece of mail, you might be wondering if you can track your mailman. Unfortunately, there’s no mailman tracker, and it’s illegal to track a mail carrier! Several laws govern the processing and delivery of mail and packages.

There are felony counts for intruding into someone’s mail, opening, or even delaying its delivery; as such, allowing for mailman tracking can lead to many consequences.

However, authorities in every post office are in charge of tracking mail carriers and ensuring they generate data about the delivery system.

For example, if there are new buildings in an area, the administration needs to adjust the delivery system of that area.

They’ll examine the streets and the tracking data and see if they can add more addresses to the area.

If they can’t, they’ll need to create a new route and find resources to support it.

The administration also tracks mail carriers to ensure their safety. Since mail can contain important information, sometimes bad eggs attempt to stop the mail carrier and try tampering with the mail, or they steal the truck altogether.

The tracking information is provided to the post office with the truck’s location, which can help police easily track the missing mail and return them.

Post offices don’t allow public tracking as it allows individuals to stop mail carriers on their route. For example, if public tracking is allowed and you’ve been eagerly waiting for a mail, you can check the tracker to find the current location of the mail carrier; if he’s a street or two away, you’ll quickly go there and meet him to collect your mail. This can slow down the delivery process and lead to mail mixups.

To avoid issues like this, USPS trains all their mail carriers to avoid delivering mail to anyone who comes up to them; rather, they should stick to keeping it in a mailbox or PO box.

Mail carriers sometimes don’t know where a specific address is in their tray because everything has been organized along the route to deliver mail.

This means they likely don’t know the next address until a certain mail reaches its destination.

If people are allowed to track mail carriers personally, they’ll disrupt deliveries making the system inefficient. Because of this, you’ll never be able to track the mailman except if you’re using a virtual mailbox.

A virtual PO box will not only allow you to track your deliveries but will also give you the privilege to schedule when mail will be delivered.

How to Track the Mailman?

Though there isn’t a mailman tracker, there are still other legal ways that you can track your mailman. Knowing where your mail carrier is makes it easy for you to receive your mail as soon as your mail lands in your mailbox.

Here are 6 ways to know where your mail carrier is on the route:

► (1)Barcode Package Tracking

You can track your mail and package using the USPS tracking system, which gives you more information about your packages. The simplest and best way to determine the location of your mail or package is using a barcode, and all boxes have a unique barcode.

As the delivery goes on, mail carriers will scan the barcode to update the tracking information. USPS is responsible for delivering more than just letters and mail; they also deliver packages.

Though these packages are small compared to mail, they come from different mail carriers because USPS has agreements with UPS, FedEx, and Amazon.

Sometimes, these private mail carriers drop off your packages at a local USPS post office. The packages are then sorted and added to the delivery truck going to that route.

You can easily watch your mail by tracking its barcode to know the expected delivery date.
Some carriers will even notify you when the mail is some minutes away from your location to get ready to receive it.

With barcodes, you can easily know where the mailman is and when your package arrives.

►(2) Observing the Route

The postal service is in charge of thousands of mail and packages. You can imagine the stress of sorting thousands of mail to put the close addresses on the same route, then re-sort them and put the closest addresses on the same route, and so it goes.

Each postal service has a certain number of vehicles and mail carriers that cover mail deliveries to all the addresses within their jurisdiction.

These workers sort mail into trays and load them on the delivery trucks. The mail is organized on trays by putting the ones to be delivered to the nearest address on their first route, then those to be delivered to the next closest address, and so on.

This saves the mail carrier the hassle of going back and forth between addresses. It also helps you determine the location of your mailman. When you’re at home, you can spend some time watching your mailbox.

Generally, mail arrives simultaneously every day because the routes are constant. However, unescapable conditions like weather, traffic, and accidents can delay your mail carrier. Otherwise, expect to get your mail around the same time every day since the mailman routes are fixed.

If you know the time that a mail carrier usually comes to your address, you can have an idea of where they’re before they reach your street.

However, USPS does not provide a mailman tracker because you’re not allowed to track down your mailman and get your mail before he delivers it.

►(3) Contact Your Post Office

Another way to know the whereabouts of your mailman is by calling the post office. Though they can give you the exact time he’ll arrive because no one knows, they can be able to give you a time range to expect his arrival.

They base this on the normal times the mail carrier delivers to your area.

Since the public isn’t allowed to track mail trucks, the post office will use their private tracking system to give you an answer.

However, the post office staff are always careful not to disclose information to the public since mail carriers sometimes carry sensitive mail.

These mail may be from the IRS, containing credit cards, checks, or some valuable information. Because of this, some robbers occasionally target mail carriers. Therefore, if the post office discloses detailed information, there’s a likelihood that thieves can track down the mailman and steal some mail.

To prevent this, the post office provides broad public information that wouldn’t guide someone in tracking down mail carriers. However, calling the post office can give you an overview of when to expect your mail.

►(4) Use USPS Informed Delivery

Informed Delivery is one of the offerings given by USPS to their customers. This service is available to everyone, and it’s free of charge. Whenever you receive your mail, your post office will snap it and notify you via your email.

The email will include and picture of the mail and its expected delivery time. Informed delivery doesn’t only tell you when to expect your mailman but also gives you an idea of the type of mail you’re receiving.

This is very helpful because if it’s valuable mail, you can make necessary preparations to immediately pick it up from the mailbox once the mail carrier delivers it.

However, you can’t track the exact location of your mail carrier through Informed Delivery, but it does give you a better idea of when to expect mail and what type of mail it is.

►(5) Rent a PO Box

A good way to track your mail is to rent a PO box. With a PO box, you don’t have to worry about mail carriers, as the Post office will deliver all your mail to your PO box.

This way, a mail carrier will never come to your address to make deliveries; instead, you’ll drive to the location of the PO box and get your mail.

If you have a PO box, you’ll never have to worry about tracking your mailman again.

►(6) Rent a Virtual Mailbox

The best way to have full control over where and when you want to receive your mail is by renting a virtual mailbox.

A digital mailbox offers you a real street address in the U.S where you will be receiving all your mail, thereby giving you the peace of mind to travel everywhere without worrying about your mail. You can easily access your virtual mailbox 24/7 by logging into your account. From there, you can view your mail and request the next action.

A virtual mailbox also comes in handy when you’re a digital nomad or frequently change address, as you won’t have to file for a change of address with USPS anytime you more. Rather, you can open your scanned mail, and if they’re important, you can request them to be forwarded to your address.

These are the six ways to track your mailman and know when your mail will be delivered to your location.

How to Sign up for Informed Delivery?

As said earlier, informed delivery is a feature that allows you to preview your and manage deliveries digitally. The service lets you preview your mail via email, the USPS app on Apple Store & Play Store, or an online dashboard.

It also allows you to receive USPS tracking updates of your packages, provides delivery instructions, and even allows you to schedule re-deliveries.

To sign up for informed delivery, you’re required to:

Have a residential address or a PO box where you receive your mail.
Your zip code and address must be eligible for informed delivery. Note that the service is still unavailable in some zip codes.
You must complete an identity verification process.

Here are the steps to follow and sign up for USPS informed delivery:

►Step 1: Create an account with USPS:

The first step to using USPS informed delivery service is to create an account with the postal service.

If you already have a USPS account, log in to your account and look up the informed delivery section.

You can do this via the USPS official website or app.

On the top right of the informed delivery page, click on sign up for free.

►Step 2: Check Whether Your Address is Qualified

Not all addresses and zip codes are eligible to use the informed delivery service. First, type in your zip code in the required field, and USPS will automatically check to see if your zip code is in a location that supports informed delivery. Most urban and suburban areas are eligible for this service.

The second criterion is your residential address. Your mailbox can only know the mail you’re receiving when they’ve unique identifying numbers.

Most standard home addresses have this number, but some complex apartments don’t.

►Step 3: Complete Your Account

If you’ve checked out both zip code and residential address qualifications, you’ll be required to enter a username and password to finish creating your account.

Make sure you put a password that you’ll remember, as this information is what you’ll be using to log in to your account.

►Step 4: Verification

There are two ways USPS can verify your residential address when you sign up for informed delivery.

The first is the online verification method which involves USPS sending an OTP to your phone, which you’ll then type on the required field.

The second method is physical verification, in which USPS will send a piece of mail to the address you use to sign up. The mail contains a code and instructions to follow and verify your account.

A third and less common verification option is going to your local post office to verify your residential address. However, not all post offices offer this service, and you can only use this option if you don’t have access to a phone and USPS isn’t able to deliver verification mail to your location.

If you use post office verification, you’ll receive a bar code that you’ll show to the post office staff on your phone or as a printout. They’ll scan the code and verify you. The bar code lasts for 30 days before it expires.

Of all these methods, the phone verification method is the fastest and most convenient, except if you don’t have access to a phone, we recommend you go for it.

►Step 5: Wait for the service to go live

After verification, your informed delivery usually takes a few days to start working.

Usually, it takes 3 to 4 days except during peak seasons when the staff is very busy. In those days, it can take a week or more for your service to go live.

Also, if you choose to verify your address through physical mail, it will take a long time since you’ve to wait for the mail to arrive at your address.

►Step 6. Check your Emails Regularly

Once your informed delivery is live, you’ll receive mail whenever you have mail to be delivered.

When you click on the link in the mail, you’ll see the picture and estimated delivery date of your mail. However, some mail that USPS won’t take a picture of; rather, they’ll inform you that there’s mail coming your way.

If you’re a business owner that travels often or a digital nomad, informed delivery will help you manage the delivery of your mails and packages.

You can choose to leave delivery instructions or schedule your delivery when you will be free to receive it.

However, it’s good you know that informed delivery only gives you a date to expect your mail, and that’s not always accurate. Sometimes, you receive your mail a day before or a day after the expected date.

►Read More About Does USPS Deliver on Sunday?

How to Locate Your Post Office

To call your post office and inquire about your mail, you must know the exact post office in charge of your mail and packages.

Here are 3 ways you can locate your post office:

1► Check via the service locator tool:

USPS has made finding your post office easier by providing a service locator tool on their website.

To find your post office, enter the USPS website and look for the Search Locator Tool.

From there, click on ‘find locations,’ then select ‘Post Offices.’ You’ll be provided with a field to type in your address.

USPS will automatically search its database to find the post office in charge of mail to your address. Once it is located, you’ll be provided with the address and contact information of the post office.

This method is more convenient than the old method of visiting all the nearby post offices to find out which one is delivering your mail.

2► Check Missed Package Slips

Sometimes, you’ll be required to sign for a package before it will be delivered to you. If your mailman doesn’t find you home, they’ll leave behind a pink slip for you.

The slip contains information about your package and the time it was attempted to be delivered. Also, it includes the name of the post office that delivered the package.

You can go to that post office to pick up your packages. From then, you’ll know that it’s the post office in charge of your mail delivery.

3► Call the Postal Service

Another method to know which post office delivers is by calling the nearest post office.

You can contact the post office on Google or from a neighbor. Place a call and ask if they’re in charge of your emails. They’ll scan their database to see if they’re.

They’ll help you find the post office that delivers your mail if they’re not.

Though you’re not allowed to track your mailman, there are still some ways you can know their whereabouts. Also, you can sign up for a virtual mailbox to control your mail remotely without having to visit the post office or await your mail carrier.

You can easily track your mail and choose what you want to do with it, either forward, hold, shred, scan or archive.

A PostScan Virtual Mailbox

PostScan Mail offers you a virtual mailbox to manage your mail online. You’ll choose an address, and once your mail arrives at our facility, the mail will be scanned and uploaded to your account.

You’ll receive a notification via email and can access your mailbox via any internet-enabled device. When you receive your mail, you can choose what we do next – either to forward it to your desired address or open, scan, shred, archive, and hold.

A PSM virtual mailbox has these features:

A real street address to choose from over 400 locations around the US
Both domestic and international mail forwarding
Mail scanning service
Exclusive and competitive shipping rates
Physical mail storage for both mail and packages
Accepts mails from all carriers (USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx, and Amazon)
Enhanced digital security
24/7 online postal mail and service management
100% control over your mail
Low subscription fees
Top-notch customer service