Because the companies merged and rebranded, but many retailer systems haven't updated their paperwork. LaserShip and OnTrac combined operations to create a single national network operating officially under the OnTrac name. However, retailer order confirmation emails, store shipping updates, and legacy tracking links often still reference "LaserShip". Nothing about your delivery is affected: it travels through the same network and is delivered by the same drivers, even if an older logo or name appears on your confirmation. If you see both names attached to your order, it reflects this brand transition rather than two separate carriers handling your parcel. Going forward, you can search and track your package directly under the OnTrac name.

Generally yes — the numbers themselves didn’t change with the name, so a LaserShip number should still resolve. Where it doesn’t, the likeliest explanations are that it’s old enough to have aged out of the system, that a character got mistyped, or that the retailer issued an internal reference rather than a carrier tracking number. Try it here first: we recognise formats across more than 1,000 carriers, which means a number returning nothing on one company’s site will often still resolve for us. If it genuinely doesn’t exist anywhere, the retailer can confirm what was actually shipped and under which number.

Under OnTrac if you’re going direct, or here if you’d rather not think about which name applies this month. Rebrands like this one leave people bouncing between an old site, a new site and a retailer page that disagrees with both — exactly the situation a neutral tracker exists to solve. Paste whatever number you’re holding and we’ll work out the format and show you what’s actually happening. That also covers the common case where an order involves more than one carrier on its way across the country: everything lands in one place instead of leaving you to guess who has it at any given moment.

The search itself is the same as with any doorstep carrier — check the delivery photo, walk the property, ask neighbours and anyone else at your address, and give it until evening in case the scan runs ahead of the drop. What’s different here is where you report it. Claims and missing-package reports now go through OnTrac rather than any old LaserShip channel, so use their current contact route and quote your tracking number, the scan time and what the photo shows. Hunting for legacy LaserShip support pages mostly leads to dead ends. Tell the retailer at the same time, since they carry responsibility for the order reaching you and can refund or replace while the carrier investigates.

Enter them fresh under the current system rather than assuming anything saved previously survived. Rebrands and system merges are precisely when saved preferences, account details and standing instructions get lost, so a gate code you entered a year ago may no longer reach a driver. The dependable approach is to attach instructions to the specific package using your tracking number on the carrier’s current site, and to repeat the important details — gate code, building, callbox, where to leave it — in the address line at checkout, since that text travels with the label whatever system is running behind it. Do it before delivery day, because instructions added in the morning often arrive after the van is loaded.

Give it a day before concluding anything, since estimates are projections rather than commitments and regional networks slip during busy weeks. If a second day passes with no attempt and no new scan, contact the carrier under its current name with your tracking number and ask for the package’s actual status — not the estimate, but where it physically is. A package sitting at a facility without moving usually means a routing problem someone has to fix by hand. Tell the retailer as well, because they can open an enquiry as the shipper and, if the package has genuinely stalled, resend or refund without waiting for the carrier to reach a conclusion.

You may also want to explore tracking for these other destinations:

• Follow your shipment in United States

• Got a parcel from Canada? Track it here

• Track parcels going to or from Mexico

• Check on your China delivery

• Your Great Britain orders, all in one place

• Waiting on something from Germany?

These carrier pages are worth a look too:

• USPS tracking, step by step

• See where your UPS package is

• Got a FedEx number? Start here

• Check your OnTrac shipment

• Asendia USA updates in one place

• Waiting on ABF Freight? Track it here