Wondering if you can track Royal Mail vans as they make their way through your area with your eagerly awaited parcel? The simple answer is no – you cannot track Royal Mail vans in real-time.
While Royal Mail does offer tracking for certain services, it doesn’t provide the kind of GPS-based live tracking that shows you exactly where your postie is at any given moment, unlike services such as Amazon that allow you to follow their drivers on a map.
Can You Track Royal Mail Vans? Why It’s Not Possible
Unlike some other courier services, Royal Mail operates on a fundamentally different delivery model.
Your local postie typically delivers both letters and parcels together in a single round, making multiple stops along an established route.
This traditional approach doesn’t lend itself well to the kind of real-time tracking technology you might be used to from more modern delivery services.
There are several practical reasons for this:
- Cost implications: Implementing GPS tracking across Royal Mail’s entire fleet of delivery vans and bicycles would be an enormous investment
- Privacy concerns: Royal Mail delivers to every address in the UK, creating potential security issues with publicly viewable tracking
- Mixed deliveries: A single van might be carrying hundreds of items, making individual trip tracking impractical
- The Universal Service Obligation: Royal Mail must deliver to every address in the UK, including remote locations where technology infrastructure might be limited
This is in stark contrast to services like Amazon, DPD, or Evri, which have built their delivery networks around parcel-specific routes and tech-forward approaches from day one.
What Royal Mail Tracking Actually Tells You
While you can’t follow the actual van, Royal Mail does provide tracking information for certain services through their barcode scanning system.
Here’s what’s actually happening when you track a Royal Mail item:
- Collection/Posting: Item is scanned when it enters the Royal Mail network
- Processing: Item is scanned at sorting centres
- Out for Delivery: Item has reached your local delivery office and been assigned to a delivery round
- Delivered: Final confirmation when the item reaches its destination
If you’ve ever encountered the frustrating “Sorry, we’re unable to confirm the status of your item” message, you’ll know that even this basic tracking isn’t always seamless.
This typically means your tracking number exists in the system, but the item hasn’t physically been scanned into the Royal Mail network yet.
Royal Mail Tracking Services: What You Can and Can’t Track
Royal Mail offers different levels of tracking depending on the service you’ve paid for:
Trackable Services:
- Special Delivery Guaranteed: The most comprehensive tracking, with updates at each stage and guaranteed delivery by 9am or 1pm (service dependent)
- Tracked 24/48: Regular updates through the delivery process
- International Tracked & Signed: Tracking for international shipments
Limited or No Tracking:
- 1st and 2nd Class: Standard mail with no tracking
- Signed For: Only confirmation of delivery, not the journey
- Standard Parcels: Basic service with limited tracking
It’s worth noting that Parcelforce, while part of the Royal Mail Group, offers more detailed tracking updates with multiple status changes and usually includes a one-hour delivery window notification.
The separation in services explains some of the tracking differences between the two brands.
Will Royal Mail Ever Offer Van Tracking in the Future?
With Royal Mail making other technological advances like their new solar-powered “postboxes of the future” with built-in barcode readers and extra-large hatches for parcels, it’s natural to wonder if live tracking might eventually be on the cards.
The pressure is certainly mounting as consumers grow accustomed to the transparency offered by competitors.
However, Royal Mail’s focus appears to be on modernising their infrastructure rather than implementing van tracking in the immediate future.
It’s also worth remembering that Royal Mail operates differently on certain days – they don’t deliver on bank holidays, for instance – which adds another layer of complexity to any potential tracking system.
How to Get the Most From Royal Mail Tracking
Since you can’t track the actual van, here’s how to make the most of Royal Mail’s current tracking capabilities:
- Choose the right service: If tracking is important to you, pay for Special Delivery Guaranteed or Tracked services
- Use the Royal Mail app: Get notifications pushed to your phone when your item progresses
- Check early in the morning: For items out for delivery, checking first thing will tell you if it’s coming that day
- Be patient with updates: Remember that tracking updates when items are scanned, not continuously
When Using Royal Mail, Track the Parcel, Not the Van
While it might be disappointing that you can’t watch your Royal Mail van moving on a map, the tracking that is available still gives you the essential information: whether your item has been posted, when it’s out for delivery, and when it’s been delivered.
For now, if you absolutely need to see a delivery driver’s exact location in real-time, you’ll need to use one of Royal Mail’s competitors.
But remember that what Royal Mail lacks in fancy tracking features, it often makes up for in reliability and universal coverage.
