What does at destination sort facility mean on tracking information?

When it comes to buying items like mobile phones, shoes, wears, bags online, there are terms you will come across and these terms trues notify you about your item or parcel.

Most times especially for the newbies they tends not to understand these terms.

I’m talking about shipping terms and which includes at destination sort facility.

If this is your very first time of buying online or shipping a parcel using the likes of DHL, FedEx, EMS, UPS, USPS, Aramex, etc you are likely going to see the term on your tracking information. As it is your first time you will try to understand what it means but I assure you that you are at the right place cause I will explain all you need to know.

What does at destination sort facility mean?

At destination sort facility means that your parcel has been forwarded to a warehouse where it will be checked, labelled and arranged for delivery.

Please whenever you see the term sort facility, sorting center, hub facility, kindly know that they are all the same just that different courier services tends to use this term or that term on their tracking information.

at destination sort facility

You shouldn’t get excited when you see your parcel is at destination sort facility cause it still has a long way to go before being delivered to you or your recipient.

Sort facility is at the early stage of delivery process especially if the shipment is coming from another country.

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Seeing your item as at destination sort facility, there are things you should bear in mind before asking how long will it take to receive your item.

1. Labeling of the item 

Despite the fact that the seller or dealer must mark his goods before they are shipped to the sorting system, the goods are nevertheless marked with all the necessary information in the sorting system.

Therefore, one package may display two labels. One is labeled by the seller and the other is performed by the courier used to deliver the goods.

2. Sorting out the items

This is  most of the sorting process and is the reason why items are put into the sorting center or facility. Each courier service has its own sorting facility or center, and all products or items are carried to the sort facility.

For example, DHL has a sorting facility in Vancouver, Canada. All goods purchased in British Columbia will be shipped to Vancouver’s DHL sorting facility where they will be sorted directly according to their destinations.

The destination is determined by the shipping address of each item in the sort facility.

All items going to Vernon are put in one bag, all items going to Chiliwak are put in another bag, and all items going to Kelowna are put in another bag. Once all the items has  been placed as intended, it is ready to be dispatched from the sorting facility to the various destinations of those items.

3. Dispatched from sorting facility

This is the final stage and after all the items have been sorted out and arranged according to their destinations or shipping address, they will be dispatched from the sorting facility.

Here, dispatched means to move out items from the sorting facility to their next destination which will be the linehaul or longhaul though it is usually linehaul transportation.

The linehaul transportation will now carry these items to their destinations or destination country.

This is why after you must have seen arrived at sort facility on your tracking information, what follows next will be departed from sorting facility, received by line haul transportation and finally departed from country of origin.

After you have departed from country of origin, you will then know that the item has left the country where you ordered it from or where it is coming from, and immediately you see arrived at destination country, you should be happy cause it has arrived at your destination.

All these are what is involved when it comes to arrived at sort facility based on my observations using my cellphone and computer to buy products online from aliexpress, Amazon, eBay, etc.

What follows next after at destination sort facility?

Immediately you have seen at destination sort facility on your tracking information, what follows next will be departed from sort facility or dispatched from sort facility.

Once everything is properly sorted out in order based on the destination these items are going to, they will be dispatched from the sorting facility. And the next stage will be to lodge these items to linehaul transportation.

The linehaul transportation will now carry these items to their various destinations or destination countries.

This is why I said there’s a long way to go after seeing at destination sort facility on your tracking information. You need to calm down and exercise a bit of patience though with a fast shipping method you will receive your item on time.

How long does it take for a package to go through a sorting facility?

It usually takes three days for items to go through a sorting facility process though sometimes especially during black Friday, it may take up to six working days to get dispatched from the sort facility.

For over six years I’ve been buying items from any of the online stores within or outside the country, at destination sort facility usually takes two t three working days before it gets dispatched and move to the next destination.

However, I’ve seen cases where people complain that their items has been stucked at at destination sort facility for over two weeks without any updates whatsoever.

From my observation, the items may be dispatched but they weren’t updated so as to let the recipient know the items next location.

I’ve received an item that kept on showing in transit for more than two weeks. I thought that I’ve lost the item but was surprised when I got a call from the post office to come pickup my item. This type of situations usually occur when buying from online stores or having a parcel sent from one location to another using any of couriers services.

Can you pick up a package from the destination facility?

Never possible at all. You cannot pick up your item from any of the destination sort facility until your item is out for delivery or has reached your local post office. 

Related Questions

At destination sort facility saturday

This simply means your item has arrived at the at destination sort facility on that very Saturday.

At destination sort facility chicago IL

This means your item has arrived at the sort facility in Chicago IL where it will be dispatched to the destination city or the recipient destination.

About Kennedy

I'm Amaechi Uchenna by name, a mobile tech enthusiast who love writing articles about tips and tutorials especially relating to gadgets.

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