What USPS “Out for Delivery” means

What does “Out for Delivery” mean?

USPS's tracking help says the package "has been prepared for delivery at your local Post Office and will be delivered by a carrier today." It adds that "not all packages are delivered by the same carrier who delivers your regular mail," so a package can come at a different time from the letters, sometimes into the evening.

What is the letter version of out for delivery?

A letter is sorted into the exact order of its carrier's route at the plant that serves the address, and that sort records the letter's last machine scan. PigeonTrail shows it as "Sorted for the mail carrier." The sorted trays go to the local post office early the next morning, and the carrier delivers the letter that day, so this scan is usually the night before delivery.

Not every letter gets it. USPS's own table of delivery areas marks about 17% of ZIP codes as zones where the last sort is done by hand and "no tracking code scans should be generated," so letters to those areas go quiet after the destination plant and arrive without the scan. The letter scans guide shows all of a letter's stages.

What if it was out for delivery but didn't arrive?

Wait until the next postal business day. USPS's help says that if no delivered status is recorded by 9 pm local time, the tracking changes to "Delivery Status Not Updated" or "Awaiting Delivery Scan" and USPS expects delivery the next business day. If the package hasn't arrived after one full postal business day, USPS asks you to submit a service request to your local post office with the tracking number.

For a letter that was sorted for the carrier and hasn't shown up, give it a day as well. Letters are sometimes held a day at the post office, and the carrier's route may not be run in the usual order. If your buyer still doesn't have it two days after the expected date, a reship or a Missing Mail search are the next steps.