To follow the delivery status of registered, insured, national and international shipments, but also of parcels sent from a post office, via web or through the app, a special function is available, Search Shipments (also known as Dove Quando), which provides information on where the parcel is and when it will be delivered. The Poste Italiane tracking service is available to monitor in real time “tracked” shipments, that is those that have an identification code that makes it possible to follow their route up to the destination. The Search Shipments service can be consulted not only for shipments sent through a Post Office, but also for those of post and parcels sent via web or using the App, and is available on several channels:
- On the poste.it website
- Through the Post Office App
- Through the Poste digital assistant that answers via WhatsApp at the number 5003715
- Calling the Poste Italiane toll-free number 803.160
Search shipments on poste.it (formerly Dove Quando – Where & When – service)
On the Poste Italiane website the “Search Shipments” can be reached directly from the home page and makes it possible to check the shipment status of parcels, registered and insured letters, judicial deeds and also services such as Posta1 and Postapriority. It is sufficient to enter the tracking code issued at the moment of purchase of the shipment in the Search Shipments field. The tracking number or code is an alphanumeric code, issued at the moment of processing the label or the waybill that is assigned and distinguishes each shipment, be it a parcel or a letter. A shipment can be tracked by both the sender and the addressee, access to the service is not by name and it is not necessary to log in to monitor the status of the delivery.
How to enter the shipment code
To find out the status of the shipment of a Registered or Insured Letter, a Judicial Deed or a Parcel, the code present on the receipt must be entered; this is written under the barcode, or communicated via email, in the case of online shipment. For parcels the code is an alphanumeric combination (numbers and letters). The figures must be entered without spaces or hyphens and can be written either in upper case or in lower case (e.g.: 000920018274, ZA123456789IT). For the Posta1 or Postapriority International services, the code present on the specific adhesive label dedicated to the services must be entered. For Posta1, the universal priority post service that makes it possible to send quickly all over Italy documents and communications up to 2 Kg, “Search Shipments” provides information exclusively on the outcome of the delivery, that is it indicates whether the shipment has arrived at the destination or not. If you need to monitor more than one shipment at the same time, it is necessary to click on the “Aggiungi Spedizione” (Add Shipment) field, which is at the top, and enter one at a time the other codes of the shipments.
How to trace a shipment sent abroad
To check the status of an international shipment, the customer must follow the same indications as for national shipments. It is however important to know that international shipments are tracked by Poste Italiane as long as the shipment is in Italy. Then the tracking is followed by the postal operator or courier that takes it in hand in the next country. In general, when the customer sees the words “Partita dal Centro di Scambi Internazionale” (Departed from the International Exchange Centre), it means in fact that the shipment has left Italian territory and will be taken in hand by a foreign postal operator. For the Postapriority International service, the international of priority post, and for Poste Delivery International Standard, the basic service for sending parcels abroad, the tracking provides instead information exclusively on arrival at the Poste Italiane International Exchange Centre.
Details of the delivery
After entering correctly the shipment code and launching the search, the customer can view the page with the results of the tracking. It is then necessary to expand the “Your shipments” section and then the “Details” section, which shows the position and the route that the shipment is following. The exact meaning of each delivery status is indicated in the “Key to shipment statuses”. Here it is explained, for example, what it means that the shipment has been “taken in hand”, or that the shipment has been accepted and will soon be inserted in the processing cycle and that it will be directed toward the final destination; or when it says “In transit”, it means that the shipment is being transferred from one Poste Operational Centre to another. Among the various available functions of Search Shipments, we can note that near the item “Details” you can see the icons that serve to send the tracking of the shipment via email or download it in the form of a PDF file to your PC. Finally, a further possibility is that of asking Poste Italiane to send to your email or telephone via sms the updates on the status of the shipment entering, in the section at the bottom, your email address and mobile number.
The monitoring service is active 24 hours a day. Customers can also consult the page dedicated to FAQs to obtain answers on their main doubts, questions on the world of correspondence and parcels.
Tracking through the Post Office App
The Post Office App is one of the alternative solutions for tracking shipments. It is completely free, available for both Android and IOS. It makes it possible to track shipments, but also to search for post offices all over Italy, book a ticket for an appointment at the counter, pay bills, send telegrams or registered letters, and many other services. To search for information on the shipment with the Post Office App it is necessary to press on the Search Shipments icon, enter the shipment code directly in the field that appears on the home page and press the icon with the magnifying glass. Alternatively, pressing the camera icon, to be found on the right, you can search for a shipment framing the barcode directly with the camera of the smartphone.
Call Poste Italiane for tracking shipments
To find out the status of a shipment you can also phone the Poste Italiane call center at the toll-free number 803.160, free from landline or mobile phone, active from Monday to Saturday from 8.00 to 20.00. Also in this case it will be sufficient to provide the shipment code to the customer service operators. If the customer is calling from abroad the number to call is +39.02.82.44.33.99.
Search Shipments also via Whatsapp and Twitter
The shipment status of registered and insured letters and parcels can be monitored also via the Poste Italiane WhatsApp channel. To use the service it is sufficient to send a WhatsApp message to the number 371.5003715 which makes it possible to chat with the Poste Digital Assistant which provides clarifications also on the main delivery statuses. To perform the tracking it is necessary to indicate the shipment code present under the barcode of the shipment or, in the case of online purchase, the number provided by the seller.
For customers who use the social channels the Poste Italiane Twitter channel is also active at the address https://twitter.com/postespedizioni, which provides assistance on tracked shipments, letters, registered letters and telegrams online and e-philately from Monday to Saturday, from 8.00 to 20.00.
How to change date and place of delivery of e-commerce parcels
To meet the needs of e-commerce customers who require increasingly flexible deliveries Poste Italiane offers the Scegli Tu (You Choose) service for picking up parcels purchased online. We can note that to use this it is necessary for the seller to have activated the service with Poste Italiane. The use of Scegli Tu is very simple. Customers, after completing the online purchase, receive a notice via e-mail and/or SMS with the expected delivery date and, if they are not at home on that day, following the link indicated in the notice itself, can change up to the last moment the date and place of delivery, according to their needs. With no need for registration and completely free, with Scegli Tu the addressee can postpone the delivery date or change the address, ask for delivery to a neighbour or in a safe place (such as the garden or the garage) or choose to pick up the purchase at the nearest post office or Punto Poste.
