What Does “Tendered to Delivery Service Provider” Mean?

You’re expecting a package from a courier such as DHL or UPS and you’ve received an update stating “Tendered to delivery service provider”.

What does this mean exactly? Who is going to be delivering your package and when will it arrive? 

Let’s take a look.

How Long Until Delivery After a “Tendered to Delivery Service Provider” Update?

The good news is that your package is close.

The carrier in charge of the majority of the package journey has now tendered the item to the service that will drop the package off at your door.

This exchange normally takes place between 24-48hrs before final delivery. In other words, you can expect to receive your item within a day or two of receiving this update.

• Related Content: What Does FedEx Package Not Due for Delivery Mean?

Why do Carriers “Tender” to “Delivery Service Providers”?

There’s a good reason carriers such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL tender packages to other carriers for “last-mile delivery”.

For many years the infrastructure of local postal services (in the USA this would be USPS, in the UK, Royal Mail) has had a wider reach than the main carriers.

When it comes to the delivery door to door, it is the local postal services that can achieve the final delivery with greater efficiency.

After all, they are set up to deliver mail directly to your door or mailbox at least 6 days of the week.

The main carriers have attempted to leverage this delivery coverage and efficiency to provide lower-budget options for their customers.

Trading slower speed for a reduced price, you can use a service such as “UPS SurePost” for package shipment.

Here, UPS shipping infrastructure will be responsible for most of the package journey.

However, once it reaches the area of the recipient the item is handed over to USPS to complete delivery.

This saves UPS from sending delivery trucks out to individual locations, thus being a cheaper option for you.

The time lag of the item being handed to USPS instead of delivered directly is the trade-off in speed, however.

Most of the main carriers worldwide offer services that work in the same way.

• Related Content: USPS “Delivered to Agent for Final Delivery” – Complete Guide 2022

Which Carriers Use the “Tendered to Delivery Service Provider” Tracking Update?

Essentially, any carrier service that tenders a package to another provider for final, last-mile delivery will use this update (or words closely related).

This includes the aforementioned UPS, DHL, and FedEx, as well as the likes of Amazon (that still uses UPSP for some areas) and smaller carrier companies based around the world.

What to do When You Receive This Update

Hopefully, you will now understand that there is nothing to worry about when you receive this update.

It is a general alert that notifies you that the package has been handed to a shipping partner in charge of making the final delivery.

It is just one more step towards the item arriving at your door. In most cases, this will be very soon.

• Related Content: What does “Tendered for Delivery” mean when using FedEx?

Package Stuck on “Tendered to Delivery Service Provider” Tracking Update

If your tracking update remains stuck on “Tendered to Delivery Service Provider” for more than a few days it would hint at there being a problem with the handover to the delivery partner.

This is when you should contact the original shipping carrier (i.e. the carrier in charge of the lion’s share of the shipment) to see which company the package was handed over to.

They will be able to make inquiries to see what has happened to the item and when you can expect delivery.

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