USPS Tracking in 2026: New Data Restrictions, Smart Lockers, and What Shippers Need to Know

USPS changed how businesses get package tracking data in 2026, but not how consumers track their own packages. USPS retired its old Web Tools platform on Jan. 25, 2026, and ended Web Tools tracking access on March 31. On April 1, 2026, it introduced what it calls “enhanced security and smarter access controls for tracking data” on its newer USPS API platform. Shippers using their own labels keep free access. Shipping platforms keep free access when their merchants authorize them. Other data services now pay a monthly fee.

For consumers, little changed. A USPS spokesperson told Logistics Management, “There are no changes to how consumers look up package information.” This guide explains the business changes, how USPS tracking and delivery timing work, and the free tools available to recipients, including Informed Delivery and USPS Smart Lockers. For shipping basics, see our how to ship a package guide.

The 2026 Tracking Data Changes

USPS’s API Access page sorts businesses into three groups, each with different rules since April 1, 2026.

Shippers using their own Mailer ID. If you create your own labels and the Mailer ID (MID) in the package barcode is registered to you, you keep “continued no-cost access” to tracking data through the Tracking API, Tracking Webhook or Scan Event Extract. You do need to accept the updated terms and conditions in the USPS Business Portal.

Platforms, label providers and consolidators. Companies that create labels for other businesses also keep no-cost access, but only once the shipper authorizes them through the Business Portal. Platforms must keep their merchants’ access tokens active.

Service providers and others. Companies that provide services such as reporting and analytics can get paid access for specific Mailer IDs. That requires a monthly fee, a signed intellectual property agreement and a USPS Enterprise Payment System account. For the Tracking API or Webhook, they must be authorized to access the Mailer ID in the barcode. For Scan Event Extracts, the Mailer ID’s owner has to delegate access.

USPS’s February 2026 release overview explains the reason. Before the change, tracking events “for any package can be retrieved by any user with access to the Tracking API or Tracking Webhook.” Under the new controls, USPS confirms a user is authorized to receive a package’s tracking events before releasing them.

What sellers should do. If you buy labels through a shipping platform, the platform handles most of this. But you may be asked to approve it in the USPS Business Portal, and tracking in your store or customer emails could stop if that step is missed. If you or a developer built your own integration on the old Web Tools tracking API, it needed to move to the USPS API platform by March 31, 2026. Our Stamps.com vs. Pirate Ship vs. ShipStation comparison covers the main label platforms.

How USPS Moves and Scans a Package

USPS’s service-standard FAQ (updated Feb. 9, 2026) describes the network in three legs:

Collection to origin processing. The package is accepted at a Post Office, picked up or dropped in a collection box, then taken to an origin processing facility.
Origin processing to destination processing. It travels by truck or plane through the network to the facility that serves the delivery address.
Destination processing to final delivery. It’s sorted for the local carrier, goes out for delivery and is delivered.

Tracking scans happen along those legs, so a gap of a day or more between scans usually means the package is in transit between facilities rather than lost. DMM 503 says USPS Tracking records the date and time of delivery or a delivery attempt. Tracking is available at usps.com or by phone at 1-800-222-1811, and USPS can email a proof-of-delivery letter. If you need records for longer than standard tracking provides, USPS Tracking Plus sells extended retention. As of October 2026, Notice 123 lists it at $2.50 per package for six months of scan history, up to $7.00 for 10 years, with signature retention available on longer plans.

USPS also moved its service standards from 3-digit to 5-digit ZIP Code pairs in 2025. The FAQ says this lets USPS be “more precise, understandable, and accurate.” The USPS Service Commitments tool shows the standard for specific 5-digit ZIP Code pairs.

Critical Entry Times and Weekend Drop-Offs

A Critical Entry Time (CET) is the cutoff USPS uses to measure on-time performance for commercial mail and packages. If USPS accepts a shipment before the CET, the service-measurement clock starts that day. If it’s accepted after the CET, the clock starts the next day. USPS changed several CETs on April 1, 2025, as part of its service-standard changes. It notes that processing “will continue at pace whether a mail piece or package is accepted before or after the CET.”

Since April 1, 2025, USPS’s day count also skips Sundays and holidays for mail and packages accepted on a Saturday or the day before a holiday. A package dropped off on Saturday therefore has a later expected date than the same package dropped off on Friday, even though the service standard itself hasn’t changed. CETs vary by facility and product, so ask your Post Office or Business Mail Entry Unit for yours rather than relying on a national rule of thumb. For expected delivery times by route, see USPS delivery speed by region.

Informed Delivery: Free Tracking for Recipients

Informed Delivery is free. It shows “images of your incoming letter-sized mail (grayscale, address side only)” and tracks incoming and outgoing packages in one dashboard. USPS’s own figures put it at 72.9 million active users as of March 31, 2025. From the dashboard or the newer Informed Delivery mobile app, you can:

Get a Daily Digest email each morning that previews mail and packages arriving soon.
Turn on text or email package notifications and Mail Delivery Notification emails.
Leave USPS Delivery Instructions for your carrier or schedule a redelivery.
Automatically track Click-N-Ship packages you send, and add other tracking numbers by hand.
Register an electronic signature so Signature Required packages can be left for you.

The app adds push notifications, inbound and outbound package management, and support for a second address such as a PO Box. To enroll, you need a USPS.com account and must verify your identity. Your address must be in an eligible ZIP Code and have a “uniquely coded” mailbox, which some apartment and condo buildings lack. USPS says multifactor authentication is required for some users and recommended for all.

USPS Smart Lockers

USPS Smart Lockers are self-service package lockers at Post Office locations. USPS calls them “a free, secure, and convenient package delivery and returns alternative.” When a package arrives, you receive an email with a QR code to scan at the locker. You can choose a Smart Locker at checkout when a store offers it, reserve a Smart Locker address to give shippers, or send packages to a locker through Click-N-Ship. A May 2025 report by the USPS Office of Inspector General counted more than 500 Smart Locker locations as of summer 2024. Lockers are one of the most effective ways to keep packages off the porch. Our package theft prevention guide covers the other options.

What Shippers Should Do Now

Confirm your tracking feed is authorized. Check that your shipping platform shows you’ve completed USPS Business Portal authorization. If you run your own integration, confirm it uses the USPS API platform, not retired Web Tools.
Accept the updated terms. USPS requires shippers using their own Mailer ID to accept the updated USPS API terms in the Business Portal to keep no-cost access.
Plan drop-offs around cutoffs and weekends. Learn your facility’s CET, and remember that Saturday acceptances skip Sunday in USPS’s day count.
Point customers to free tools. Informed Delivery alerts and Smart Locker delivery cut down on “where is my package” emails and theft claims.
Keep records for disputes. Save tracking and proof-of-delivery information. If you need it longer, USPS Tracking Plus sells extended retention, and our shipping claim guide explains what each carrier needs. If you sell on marketplaces, see our eBay and Etsy seller shipping guide.