You’re waiting for that new item you’ve ordered online and you’re keeping a close eye on the tracking updates.
An alert comes up stating “Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item” and you want to know what earth it means.
Well, you’re in the right place. Let’s take a look…
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item – What does it Mean?
This update can sometimes appear if the shipper has used a 3rd party carrier to transport your item to your local area before handing it over to USPS for final delivery. (Also known as final mile delivery.)
The “Shipping Partner” is the 3rd party courier company. The package has arrived at the facility belonging to the partner, and USPS is awaiting transfer to the nearest hub location to the recipient’s address.
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How Far Away is Your Package When you Receive this Update?
How far away from delivery your package is at this point will vary. To answer this it is useful to look at the role of the 3rd party shipping partner.
When online retailers look to reduce shipping costs by using parcel aggregators/shipping consolidators to transport items.
These are the USPS 3rd party companies. They presort and consolidate packages into regional areas and then deliver them, to the relevant USPS hub locations.
UPS SurePost, FedEx SmartPost, and DHL Global all have relationships with USPS in this manner, (in that USPS is used for the last mile of delivery).
Because these carriers are dealing in such high volumes, it becomes an efficient way of dealing with shipments.
USPS offers discounted Parcel Select rates to the courier for the final mile of delivery and these savings filter down to the retailer, (and in some cases the customer).
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So How Long will my Package be at the Shipping Partner Facility?
When you receive the Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item update, it means that the 3rd party has informed USPS that the package has arrived.
It now has to go through the consolidation process at the “Shipping Partner Facility” and the package, along with any others destined for the same USPS hub will be placed together for delivery.
The trouble here is how quickly your package leaves the 3rd party facility depends on the amount of volume being delivered to the relevant USPS hub.
There is no expedited delivery if a shipper has used this method of delivery.
The facility will wait until enough volume for a particular locale has been accumulated before the consolidated items go on the truck for ground transportation to USPS.
This can be anything from several hours after receiving the “Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item” update, to two or more days.
When the package finally leaves the facility and is on its way to your local USPS hub you should receive a “Departed Shipping Partner Facility” delivery status.
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How Long Will it Take USPS to Make Last-mile Delivery?
The good news is that once your package reached the relevant USPS hub, you should receive your item within 1 or 2 business days.
This is because the 3rd party has already sorted the package so that it arrives at the closest USPS facility to your address.
The next step for your package is arriving at your nearest post office before going out for delivery with the USPS postal worker servicing your area.
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How do I Track my Package if it is With a 3rd party Shipping Partner?
Tracking your package after an “Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item” update is not difficult.
Many USPS shipping partners utilize the same tracking code as USPS on relevant packages.
So assuming you have been made aware of which 3rd party company the shipper has used, you can visit the tracking page of the carrier for specific updates.
If you don’t have information on which carrier has been used, a quick tip is to visit a universal tracking service online.
Cut and paste the same USPS tracking number that gave you the “Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item” alert, and the website will scan all major carriers to see if the same number is being used there too.
This way you can get updates on the progress of your package while it is still in the hands of the 3rd party carrier.
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What to Do if Your Alert Remains Stuck on “Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item”?
If you find that your tracking status remains on this update for several days, there is a good chance a delay outside the normal delivery process has occurred.
I recommend that you first check the tracking number on the 3rd party tracking page or universal tracker site.
If you can obtain more specific updates from the shipping partner, you will get a better idea of what has happened to the package.
Depending on the updates here, you can act accordingly.
If no information can be obtained from the tracking number, it is time to contact the shipper.
Delivery companies generally prefer to discuss issues with the shipper as they are the account holders and the entity that made the shipment.
In other words, the shipper should be able to help find out what has happened directly and then update you.
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I’m a 25 year veteran of USPS. I’m retired now, but as the editor of Mailbox Master, I can’t quite remove myself from the carrier industry just yet. 🙂
I just want to know that is they going to drop my package off at my Address.
My package has been at a holding facility for three weeks now.