Parcelforce tracking status
Parcelforce “Available for Redelivery or Collection”: what it means
The short answer
Take actionParcelforce is keeping your parcel at a depot, usually after a missed delivery. It holds it for 18 days (21 for international and customs charge parcels). Collect it with the card and ID, or book a redelivery, before it goes back to the sender.
When to act: If this line has stayed for 2 working days and you have no card and cannot book a redelivery, file a complaint and we send it to Parcelforce.
Also shown as: “Available for Collection or Redelivery” · “Ready for redelivery or collection” · “Ready for collection” · “Pending”
What to do now
- 1
Find the depot. It is named in the tracking line and on your Something for you card, and Royal Mail's Find locations page helps you find it.
- 2
If the depot is too far, try Change delivery options on the tracking page for a Post Office or Parcel Locker near you.
- 3
To collect, take the card, or the text or email if you got one, and ID in the name on the parcel: a bank card, passport, driving licence, NHS medical card or photo ID card. Only original, recent documents count.
- 4
Someone else can collect it with the card and ID in your name, or with the card, their own photo ID and proof they live at your address.
- 5
Keep a screenshot of the line with its date, so you can see how much of the holding period is left.
- 6
Still not sorted? File your complaint here. We write it with you and send it to Parcelforce, so you do not have to chase it yourself.
Waiting at a post office, shop or locker with another courier
- USPS: Held at post office
- DHL: Awaiting Collection by Consignee
- UniUni: Failed delivery attempt, returning to the warehouse
- Cainiao: Waiting for Pick Up
- Evri: Ready for collection
- DPD: Being held at the depot
- InPost: Ready to collect
- Canada Post: Available for pickup
- Purolator: Shipment available for pickup
- Canpar: Held for pickup
- Intelcom: Ready for pickup
- Australia Post: Awaiting collection
- StarTrack: At Delivery Depot
- Aramex: Ready for collection
- CouriersPlease: Ready for collection
- Team Global Express: Awaiting collection
- NZ Post: Ready to collect
- An Post: Your delivery is in D.S.U.
- DPD Ireland: Your parcel is held at the DPD depot
What does “Available for Redelivery or Collection” mean?
The parcel is at a Parcelforce depot, and the line names it, such as Edinburgh PFW Depot. The line can show twice, once at the depot and once at its CSP, the customer service point where parcels are handed over. Pending at the top of the page is a general label, and the text under it gives the reason.
Royal Mail's glossary says this line means a delivery was tried and a Something for you card was left. In histories people share, it also follows attempts people say never reached them, and the depot can be up to a couple of hours from home.
Why does Parcelforce show it?
- A failed delivery attempt, so the parcel came back to the depot
- A second failed attempt, which ends the automatic tries
- Delivery Attempted - Address Inaccessible, when the driver could not reach the door
- Delivery to the depot was chosen while the parcel was on its way
How long does it last?
You can collect the parcel or book a redelivery within 18 days (21 for international and customs charge parcels). After that Parcelforce looks for a return address and sends it back to the sender. In accounts people share, the app can say there are no more delivery options, which leaves collection.
Other Parcelforce statuses
- Held as Customs fee to payTake action
- Item ReceivedNormal
- Due to be delivered todayNormal
- Delivery AttemptedTake action
- Item RetentionKeep an eye on it
- Tracking not updating or parcel lateKeep an eye on it
- Returned to senderTake action
- We're expecting itKeep an eye on it
- Delivered but not receivedTake action
Who is responsible for a late or missing parcel from Parcelforce?
Buy online from a business and the seller usually has to sort it out until the parcel reaches you. Under UK consumer law (the Consumer Rights Act, section 29) the goods stay at the seller's risk until they are in your hands, or with someone you named to take them, unless you booked the courier yourself and the seller did not offer it as an option. Parcelforce's own help also says the retailer has a legal responsibility to make sure you get what you paid for.
If you sent the parcel yourself, your contract is under the joint Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide terms for the service you bought. UK express services include cover of up to £150 per item for loss or damage, and you can add more, up to £2,500 per item. A refund for late delivery depends on the service: 100% of the delivery cost for express10 and expressAM, 50% for express24 and nothing for express48 or express48large.
Questions about “Available for Redelivery or Collection”
How long will Parcelforce hold my parcel?
18 days at the depot for UK services and 21 days for international and customs charge parcels. A parcel sent to a Post Office is held for 10 days, and a Parcel Locker holds it for 3 days before it goes to the depot for a further 18.
Can I collect my parcel from a Parcelforce depot?
Yes, after a missed delivery, with the card and ID. Parcelforce does not promise collection before an attempt. What it does offer is a change of delivery to the depot, on the tracking page or in the Royal Mail app.
What if I never got a card?
The tracking says the text or email can stand in for the card when you collect. Without either, one person was turned away with a passport alone, so take ID and proof of address as well.
What does CSP mean on Parcelforce tracking?
It is the collection counter at a depot, as in Coventry PFW CSP. The tracking can link to revised opening hours for these counters, so check them before you travel.
My overseas tracking says ready to collect, but nobody told me. Why?
The sender's postal service can use its own words. People have seen Item arrival at collection point for pick-up from Japan Post and Ready to collect from USPS while Royal Mail's tracker showed something else. Read Royal Mail's tracker for what is happening here.
Based on
- Parcelforce: Redelivery (attempts, holding periods, ID)
- Royal Mail: What does my tracking message mean? (glossary for the tracker Parcelforce parcels now use)
- Parcelforce: Delivery options and speed exceptions
- Parcelforce: Return to sender (18 and 21 day holds)
- Parcelforce Worldwide: UK parcel services user guide (journey, notifications, Safeplace, photo on delivery)
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared tracking history): Available for Redelivery or Collection at a PFW depot and CSP (screenshot)
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared tracking history): Available for Redelivery or Collection at Coventry PFW CSP (screenshot)
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared tracking history): tracking text on collecting: card, or text or email, and ID (screenshot)
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared tracking history): marked available, app refuses a new booking (screenshots)
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared account): depot refused a passport without card or proof of address
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared tracking history): Japan Post wording while the parcel was with Parcelforce (screenshots)
- Reddit r/royalmail (shared account): USPS wording against Item Retention on Royal Mail
- legislation.gov.uk: Consumer Rights Act, section 29 (goods stay at the seller's risk until they reach you)
- Parcelforce: Buying items online, who you should contact
- Parcelforce: Enhanced and inclusive compensation
- Parcelforce: Refunds for late delivery
- Royal Mail: Terms and conditions (Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide)