Track and Trace

Track and trace refers to the systems and processes that enable monitoring of a shipment's current location and movement history throughout its journey from origin to destination. It is one of the most visible and customer-facing aspects of modern logistics — when a consumer clicks "track my order," they're accessing the output of a track-and-trace infrastructure that can span dozens of carriers, handoff points, and IT systems.

The Difference: Tracking vs. Tracing

Tracking (forward-looking): Knowing where a shipment is right now and predicting when it will arrive. This is the real-time visibility component.

Tracing (backward-looking): Reconstructing the history of a shipment — every scan, handler, and location it has passed through. Used for investigating delays, damage claims, and exceptions.

Modern track-and-trace systems provide both simultaneously through a unified event timeline.

How It Works: The Scan Network

Shipment visibility is built on a chain of scan events at key points in the logistics network:

1. Origin scan: Label created and first scan at carrier facility or shipper location
2. Pickup scan: Package physically in carrier possession
3. Hub scans: Each time the package passes through a sorting facility or transfer point
4. Customs scans: Entry and release events for international shipments
5. Out for delivery scan: Package loaded onto a local delivery vehicle
6. Delivery scan: Final confirmation of delivery, often with GPS coordinates or photo proof

Technologies Behind Track and Trace

Barcodes: 1D (Code 128) and 2D (QR, Data Matrix) barcodes on shipping labels are scanned at each checkpoint. The carrier's system records the scan event, timestamp, and location.

RFID: Some carriers and warehouses use RFID for bulk scanning — reading dozens of packages simultaneously without line-of-sight. UPS equipped 60,000 vehicles with RFID readers in 2024.

GPS: Vehicle-mounted GPS provides continuous location data between scans, enabling live map tracking offered by Amazon, DHL, and UPS.

IoT sensors: High-value and temperature-sensitive shipments use active tags that record location, temperature, humidity, and shock continuously throughout transit.

Track and Trace Aggregators

Most shippers use multiple carriers. Rather than sending customers to different carrier websites, many use tracking aggregators — platforms that normalize tracking data from 1,000+ carriers into a consistent format:

• AfterShip: Popular with Shopify merchants; provides branded tracking pages
• 17TRACK: Widely used for international and postal shipments from Asia
• Parcel Monitor: Consumer-facing multi-carrier tracker
• project44 / FourKites: Enterprise supply chain visibility platforms

Providing proactive, accurate tracking updates reduces WISMO (Where Is My Order?) contacts by 20–40% — a significant customer service cost saving.