What Does it Mean When I Find Out That My Delivery is "Stuck in Transit"?

By Paul McDuffy Platinum Quality Author

Usually, when you check the status of your courier shipment, the message that you receive will be fairly generic. Typically you will see what city your package passed through more recently. You might see an exact location if you have GPS tracking of the package enabled. Sometimes though, your Phoenix messenger service might update your online status check with a more specific message that could cause you some concern. Most of these are fairly self explanatory, but a little vague. For instance, what might, "stuck in transit" entail as a shipping status.

There are a lot of different things that can cause a shipment to be stuck in transit. This can often be the status that your courier will use to describe why your package is no longer moving when they simply don't have any other appropriate status update to apply to that particular situation. Basically though, it always means the same thing, and that is that for whatever reason, your package isn't moving.

Mechanical breakdowns, traffic accidents, busy traffic, snowstorms, highway closures, and border problems can all cause a package to become stuck in transit. It is usually simply too time consuming for a courier to have their driver report on the exact specifics of every situation which makes a package get stopped moving when there is nothing that anyone can do about the situation, so it is easier to leave it as the more generic status "stuck in transit".

The good news about that status is that it is typically not something very serious. If a package was stopped at an international border because it was missing a key document, the courier company would have to contact you immediately about the problem. The same thing would happen if an accident occurred which caused your package to become damaged severely. This is one of those cases where no news is good news.

If you're concerned that your package has been stuck in transit for a particularly long time, you could always call someone at the courier company to see if they have any information on the delivery. Keep in mind though, that often a courier office will not have more detailed information than that which you can see on your computer screen. Also, they get hundreds of calls daily asking for clarification on statuses, so unless there is a vital need to know what is happening to your package, it is sometimes best not to bother.

Paul McDuffy is a consultant for Phoenix messenger and Phoenix freight services companies as well as national courier service businesses.