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Tracking number formats: which carrier is it?

8 min read

1Z999AA1012345RR123456785CHLP00123456789

A tracking number's letters and length often tell you which carrier has your parcel or package. 1Z followed by 16 letters and digits is UPS, 22 digits starting 92 to 95 is USPS, and 13 characters shaped like RR123456785CH (two letters, nine digits, two letters) usually belong to a national post, with the issuing country in the last two letters. Plain digits are the hard case: 10, 12 or 14 digits each fit several carriers, so the shipping email, or a tracker that checks the candidates, has the final word.

How do I tell which carrier a tracking number is from?

Four checks, in this order:

  1. Read the lettersThey narrow it down most. 1Z at the start is UPS; two letters at the end usually mean a post.
  2. Count the charactersLength rarely decides on its own, but it rules carriers out. Leave out the spaces: they're printed to help you read, not part of the number.
  3. Check the emailThe shop's shipping email or text usually names the carrier or links to its tracking page. That beats any guess.
  4. Try the candidatesEnter the number on each likely carrier's site. The one that shows scans for it has your parcel.

If you'd rather skip the detective work, paste the number, a carrier link or the whole shipping email into Peek: it picks out the number and detects the carrier among more than 3,500.

Tracking number formats by carrier

Here's what the carriers and the postal standard say about the numbers you're most likely to meet in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia:

CarrierWhat the number looks like
UPS1Z + 16 letters and digits, 18 characters in all, such as 1Z999AA10123456784, an example that passes UPS's check digit
USPS22 digits starting 92, 93, 94 or 95, printed in groups of four, such as 9212 3912 3456 7812 3456 70; 26 digits on some labels; international items can carry the postal format ending US
FedEx12 digits on FedEx Ground Economy labels since 2022, where some shippers used to get 15-digit Ground numbers
DHLDHL Express: 10 digits, never letters. DHL in Germany: 10 to 39 characters
Royal Mail, Parcelforce9 to 27 characters, says the Post Office; the postal format ends GB
Evri16 characters (Evri's page says both "16 digit" and "16 character")
DPD14 characters, says DPD Germany; 14 digits, say DPD Austria and Belgium. DPD UK's help page gives no length and asks for your postcode too
An Posttwo letters, nine digits, two letters ending IE
Canada Post16 digits (online labels) or 13 characters ending CA; 12 digits for Priority Worldwide
Australia Postits help page gives no format and calls it a "tracking number, or article ID"; numbers in the postal format end AU
YunExpressYT + 16 digits (YT + 13 digits is YTO Express)
China Post, EMSthe postal format ending CN; international EMS numbers start with E
AmazonAmazon publishes no format; TBA numbers are covered below

Whose tracking number starts with 9 or 420?

A 22-digit number starting 92 to 95, or a 26-digit one starting 92 to 94, is USPS. If you scanned the barcode and the digits start with 420, that part is 420 plus the destination ZIP Code (5 or 9 digits). USPS uses it for routing and leaves it out of the printed number, so your tracking number starts at the 92, 93, 94 or 95 that follows.

How many digits is a tracking number?

There's no single length. These are the lengths carriers give on their own pages, and the overlaps show why a bare number can fit several:

LengthWho uses it
10 digitsDHL Express; Mondial Relay (8, 10 or 12)
12 digitsFedEx Ground Economy; Canada Post Priority Worldwide; Mondial Relay
14 digitsDPD in Austria and Belgium (DPD Germany says 14 characters); La Poste in France
15 digitsFedEx Ground numbers: FedEx told Ground Economy shippers receiving them that the length would change from 31 May 2022; Canada Post's Delivery Notice Card
16 digitsCanada Post online labels; Evri (16 characters)
22 digitsUSPS; Portugal's CTT
26 digitsUSPS, on some labels
9 to 27 charactersRoyal Mail and Parcelforce
10 to 39 charactersDHL in Germany

Whose tracking number starts with TBA?

Amazon. In the carrier data Peek uses, TBA, TBC or TBM followed by 12 digits means Amazon Logistics, Amazon's own delivery service, though Amazon's help pages don't describe the number itself. Those orders show as "shipped with Amazon", and Amazon tells you to track them in Your Orders.

The postal format: two letters, nine digits, two letters

National posts share one 13-character format, set by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in its standard S10. Here it is taken apart:

  1. RRType of item: R for a registered letter
  2. 12345678Serial number, eight digits
  3. 5Check digit, worked out from the serial
  4. CHCountry that issued the number: Switzerland

For mail crossing a border, the first letter tells you the kind of item. Posts may use the letters differently at home.

  • E: EMS, the posts' express service
  • C: parcel
  • R: registered letter
  • L: tracked letter
  • V: insured letter
  • U: goods sent as a letter, without tracking for you

The last two letters are not always where the parcel started. The UPU says the code "cannot be used as a reliable indicator of the geographic origin of an item": Swiss Post uses CH on items it sends from its offices abroad, and Portugal's CTT gives codes ending PT to items its contract customers send from Spain, China and elsewhere.

The check digit catches typos. To test a number:

  1. Multiply the eight serial digits by 8, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5, 9 and 7, and add the results.
  2. Divide by 11 and take the remainder away from 11.
  3. A result of 10 becomes 0, and 11 becomes 5.

For RR123456785CH: 8 + 12 + 12 + 8 + 15 + 30 + 63 + 56 = 204, which leaves 6, and 11 − 6 = 5. If a postal number you copied by hand fails this test, look for a mistyped or swapped digit.

Whose tracking number starts with UL or UU?

If it has 13 characters and ends in two letters, such as CN, it's a postal number from the U range: goods sent as a letter. The last two letters show which country's post issued it. A longer number starting UU isn't in that format: check the shipping email for the carrier.

Numbers that are not your tracking number

Other numbers travel with a parcel. Some lead back to it, some don't:

  • Order number. The shop's own reference. DHL reminds you that a tracking number is not an order number.
  • Missed-delivery cards. A FedEx door tag (DT + 12 digits, US and Canada only), an Evri calling card (8 digits), a Canada Post Delivery Notice Card (15 digits) and the barcode on a USPS PS Form 3849 all lead back to the parcel in their carrier's tracking.
  • An Post's Trans Ref ID. It only records your transaction with An Post and tracks nothing.

Have only an order number? Where to find a tracking number shows where to look in your order.

Why your tracking number can change on the way

A parcel that crosses a border often changes hands, and each company can print its own label. The UPU lets the receiving post add its own barcode next to the original, as long as it isn't in the 13-character postal format.

  1. SellerPrints the label and the first number
  2. Long haulTravels on that first number
  3. CustomsChecked in your country
  4. Local carrierCan add its own label and number
  5. Your doorThe last scans may sit under the new number
  • Postal items are the easy case: the UPU allows only one S10 number per item, so it usually works on both posts' sites.
  • FedEx Ground Economy shipments in the US get a 12-digit FedEx number and a USPS tracking number as well.
  • AliExpress economy shipping: Cainiao says tracking stops at the handover to the local carrier, and that the seller can tell you how to reach that carrier. More in tracking a parcel from China.

A number that returns nothing isn't always mistyped. Portugal's CTT gives two reasons: the code exists only for customs, or another company delivers the item. If a valid number simply hasn't moved yet, read why tracking stops updating.

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