On a USPS retail receipt from the Post Office counter, the tracking number is printed near the top, right under the date and time, and it shows up again next to each item in the purchase details. A self-service kiosk receipt calls it the label number, which USPS says is the same as the USPS Tracking number. For postage bought online with Click-N-Ship, USPS points you to the Print Confirmation page and your Shipping History for the details a receipt would normally show.
Where the tracking number sits on each USPS receipt
- Retail counter receipt: every tracking number bought in that transaction is listed near the top, under the date and time. Each product line in the purchase details repeats its own number.
- Self-service kiosk receipt: look for the label number. It is the tracking number under another name.
- eReceipt by email: the tracking number for each item is highlighted in the message.
- Rapid Dropoff Station receipt: it carries the tracking number of the prepaid label you dropped off.
The same number is also printed below the barcode on the package or envelope itself.
Lost the receipt: tracking number lookup options
USPS is clear that local Post Offices and Care Center agents have no way to recover a lost tracking number. Your own records are the lookup: search your inbox for the eReceipt, open your online label record if you bought postage on the web, or read the number under the barcode. If the recipient subscribes to Informed Delivery, the tracking number of an expected item appears on their dashboard. Keep in mind that postcards and First-Class Mail letters sent without extra services carry no tracking number at all.
A receipt for a Click-N-Ship label
USPS's Click-N-Ship FAQ does not describe a separate receipt document. Instead, the Print Confirmation page shown after checkout, which has a printer-friendly option, lists the receipt details. Afterwards, the Shipping History tab keeps a record of every label bought in Click-N-Ship and can be sorted by order, date or total. Printing, reprinting and saving a label as a PDF stop at midnight Central time on the label's ship date. The older version of Shipping History has no export, and USPS suggests a screenshot or copying the table into a spreadsheet instead.
Why the receipt matters for a refund
A USPS refund request may ask for the tracking number, the purchase receipt and, at a Post Office, photo ID. Unused Click-N-Ship labels made in the past 30 days are refunded from Shipping History through Refund Labels. Between 30 and 60 days after printing, you email the Click-N-Ship Help Desk with the label number and the transaction number and date.
USPS postage that files itself
A counter receipt is a narrow strip of thermal paper, and the tracking number on it fades with the ink. Snap it in the Smartbills app before you leave the lobby and the total, the date and the tracking number are kept with the image. eReceipts are picked out of your mailbox by email receipt capture, and the postage lands on the right expense report for the client or job you shipped for.