What Does It Mean When the USPS Says the Acceptance of Your Package Is Pending?

I recently had a package that was going to be delivered by USPS. But, I noticed that it’s status said ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’. And I didn’t know what it meant, so I looked it up, and here’s what I found.

So, what does it mean when the USPS says the acceptance of your package is pending? It means that your package has arrived at a USPS facility. But, it hasn’t been scanned in, and sorted. Once, this is done, the delivery driver will load your package with other packages onto their truck and deliver them to your address in person.

Because delivery drivers can only cover so much distance in a day, USPS puts items that need to be delivered to a similar location on the same truck. When this happens, they will update the status to ‘out for delivery’. However, below I’ll explain a bit more about the process, so you have a better idea of what to expect.

How long will it take for my package to be delivered when USPS says ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’?

Your package has a scheduled delivery date that is shown on the web page for your delivery. This is emailed to you, or you can look it up with your tracking number on the USPS website. On the home page, there is a box where you can put your tracking number, and it will show the details.

That will tell exactly what date USPS estimates your package will be delivered. USPS processes about 181 million pieces of mail a day, according to their website. 

So, with this large volume and the fact that they do it day in and day out every day, they have become very good at estimating how long it will take them to deliver packages. Based on where they are coming from and how they arrive at their sorting facility. 

Packages and mail arrive at their sorting facilities in large containers, which need to be opened, scanned, and sorted. Companies that send a lot of items will put all their packages into one container, regardless of what country or city they are being sent to. 

Then once, they arrive at a USPS facility, they need to be sorted by where they are going and go to a different part of the sorting facility.

For example, items that are going to San Diego need to be separated from packages that are sent to Los Angeles. 

Then once they get to a Los Angeles sorting facility they need to be sorted by the suburbs in Los Angeles – packages that need to go to Hollywood are separated from packages that are going to Santa Monica.

There are many USPS depots both small and large that sort the mail and packages from the State level, to the suburb level, down to the inner suburb level. So, depending on where your package is located within all the other packages determines how fast or slow your items will be sorted. 

However, once it has reached the end of the sorting process, it will be loaded on to the smaller USPS trucks that drive around and drop off packages. When this happens the status of your package will be updated to ‘out for delivery’.

Why USPS says that ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’

When you order something online, or someone sends you a package from a post office, the mail goes from where it is to a USPS sorting facility.

Once it arrives at the USPS sorting facility, it gets sorted either by machine or by hand. It is then loaded onto a smaller truck that drives around delivering packages to homes and offices in person.

Mail arrives at the USPS sorting facility in large containers that need to be moved around with a forklift. But, they can also arrive in large bags. Each container or bag has a unique tracking number on it.

And the unique tracking number also has a record of what packages are in it. Once it arrives at the sorting facility, it gets scanned in to say that it has arrived, and been received by the USPS.

However, your individual package is inside these containers or bags. So, the containers or bags need to be opened, and your individual package needs to get scanned by the USPS sorting facility to prove it arrived at that location.

Therefore, ‘the acceptance of your packages is pending’ means that the container your package arrived at the sorting facility. But, they haven’t opened the container or bag and scanned your package yet.

This ensures that your package is tracked accurately at each step in the process so that if a package can’t be found, they can easily backtrack to see where it went missing.

Do you need to do anything if your package has the status ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’?

There isn’t anything you need to do when your package has this status. USPS will update the status of your package as it goes through each step of the process. And if there are any delays or if it will be delivered sooner than their initial estimate, they will update the status of your package. If you have it set up, they will email you each time the status of your package gets updated. This is a really cool free service which USPS provides called Informed Delivery. You can sign up for it by clicking here, to go to the official USPS website. Also, you can check it anytime you want through the USPS website.

It’s definitely possible that things can go wrong during the delivery process, but this is very rare, and you can expect your package will arrive on the estimated delivery date.

The main delays generally occur from the person sending the package. It can take them some time to get your product from their warehouse or package it all up. 

Most companies’ delivery tracking system isn’t as good as USPS’s, and they aren’t typically as efficient, especially with smaller companies, where they haven’t streamlined their processes as much as USPS. Once it’s in the USPS system, everything should run smoothly.

What are the next steps for your package once it’s been accepted?

Once it gets accepted, it means it has been scanned individually at the next sorting facility. From there, it may go to another facility closer to your location and then be loaded onto a USPS delivery truck to be delivered to you in person. Or, it can be delivered to you from that facility. When this happens, your tracking information will be updated with another status.

The final stage of delivery is when it’s being delivered to you on that day is ‘out for delivery’. This means that a delivery driver that delivers packages to people in person has your package on their truck, and they are making their way around the suburbs or city, dropping them off one by one.

I recently wrote an article about what’ out for delivery’ means. There are some things that can stop your package from being delivered on that day. And you should be aware of them so you can avoid them. 

To read about what can cause your package to not be delivered on that day even though it has the status ‘out for delivery’ click [here: What Does Out for Delivery Mean?], to read the article.

How long should you wait when it says ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’?

You should get concerned if your package says ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’, and it is over your estimated delivery date. This indicates that something has gone wrong in the system.

When your package is waiting to be accepted, there are still a few more steps before your mail will be in the final stage and get delivered to you. 

USPS will give you an estimated delivery date with their Informed Delivery service, which you can sign up here for free.

So, when the estimated delivery date was 2 to 3 days ago, and your package still says ‘the acceptance of your package is pending, this indicates a glitch has occurred in their system, and you need to contact them to see what has happened.

Websites and online systems aren’t perfect, and they can have problems. Much like a computer, you sometimes need to restart it if it freezes or certain applications stop working properly 

Therefore, a USPS employee might need to go into your specific tracking ticket and update it manually or send it to a smart computer person to do something fancy to fix it all up.

In my opinion, if anything looks out of the ordinary for more than 48 hours, I would get in touch with USPS to ask them about it.

In summary, the ‘acceptance of your package is pending’ status can be there for quite a while, but I would only get concerned if it’s still there past the date when USPS says they estimate it will be delivered. Because that indicates something went wrong with their system.

Ordinarily, if your package is delayed USPS will inform you by updating the estimated delivery.

Related questions: 

What time of day does USPS deliver packages?

According to USPS, packages are delivered between the hours of 9:00am and 7:00pm. But, this is only once the status of your package has been updated to ‘out for delivery’. USPS does not allow you to schedule a specific time in that time window. 

I think it’s because it would be too difficult, because of how much traffic there is at certain times, and other factors that would increase the time it takes to deliver packages overall to all their customers.

If they are unable to deliver your package because you aren’t home, or can’t sign for it, they will return our package to the depot, and update the status on your tracking number. They will also attempt to deliver it up to 3 more times.

Conclusion

When USPS says that ‘the acceptance of your package is pending’ it means that your package has arrived in a container or bag. The container or bag has been scanned at the facility, but your individual package hasn’t yet.

Once the status of your package will be updated, and the final status will be ‘out for delivery’. Out for delivery means that your package has been loaded on to the delivery drivers truck, and they are out delivering your package and others, which means that your package will be delivered that day.

Sources

• Usps.com: Homepage
• Facts.usps.com: A day in the life
• Informeddelivery.usps.com: Informed Delivery® by USPS®
• Ups.com: Tracking Detail Help