But what really happens when a package is lost? For this section, we will use the example of UPS. However, FedEx has a similar system. When you hand a package to UPS, it has a label with a barcode on it. If you are scheduling a pickup, you will have to enter information about the size and weight of your package into a computer, as well as its destination and a few other details.
You can then print a label that has some information printed so that humans can read it such as the destination address. All of the information provided, including destination and the other details, are encoded into a barcode on the lable that is readable by computers.
If you drop off your package at a UPS store, the process is similar, though the UPS store employee may help with the packing and data entry. Once the package is picked up, it travels by truck to a regional sorting facility. There, UPS workers will scan each package and sort them into groups depending on their destination. If the destination is less than miles away, the package will travel by truck. If it is more than miles away, the journey will be by air. Packages that will journey by air are delivered by air or by truck to Louisville, Kentucky, home of UPS Worldport, a huge package sorting megaplex.
FedEx has a similar hub in Memphis, Tennessee. Worldport is huge. Its internal space could hold more than eight football fields. Its perimeter is more than 5 miles.
Packages in each of these categories are placed on a separate conveyor belt with the label side up, so it can be scanned by computers. The packages then go into the maze of conveyor belts that is Worldport. For about 15 minutes, each package travels through Worldport. Along the way, computers scan the barcode and direct its path so that it eventually ends up in a large canvas bag or container with other packages going to a similar area. The aircraft takes the packages to a regional airport hub.
The packages are scanned again, and packages going to a similar area are sent by truck to a regional sorting facility. From there, UPS employees scan each package with a small handheld computer and place it on a specific truck. The scanner even tells them where in the truck to place it, so that the driver can more easily locate the package when it reaches its destination.
Trucks are given computer generated routes created to balance delivery time and fuel efficiency. UPS routes famously eliminate as many left turns as possible, even if it means making the route longer. While most of that mail will arrive safely to its intended destination, inevitably, some packages get lost in transit. The most common reason packages get lost by the USPS is because the address label falls off or the shipping label becomes smeared or illegible.
The U. Postal Service and other national carriers suggest you include an extra address label with delivery and return address inside the package in the event this problem occurs. That way the Post Office staff can open the package and recreate a shipping label without having to send the package back to the sender. A piece of mail must be considered lost by the USPS before you can submit a search request to find it—and there are specific time requirements for different kinds of lost mail.
For most mail classes, the package must be lost for at least 7 days from the date of mailing before you can initiate a request to have the USPS search for the missing mailpiece. The request is called a Missing Mail Search Request. To process the request, the USPS will use your tracking number and check all of the times your package was scanned in transit to pinpoint where it dropped off the radar.
In my 25 years as a postmaster, I can recall only two occasions when I had to notify a customer that their item was destroyed. One was a fiery truck crash that incinerated most of the mail; the other was a plane crash.
Even in those cases, mail with a legible address was delivered along with a note of explanation. With billions of pieces of mail flowing through the system at any given time, mishaps are bound to occur.
That is why we sell postal insurance. Thankfully, the mail system is pretty reliable. If you ordered something for Christmas, you will probably receive it! Theft and bad addresses account for the vast majority of lost mailpieces, and thankfully, these are at least partly preventable problems.
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