Thanks Lyndal, so it was pretty much as I assumed then. I was fairly sure that the items should be scanned into the DC prior to sorting, and then out again once their destination has been determined, but this is clearly not happening so it's entirely possible that the item could have gone missing as late in the delivery process as when the final delivery driver scans it as being on board for delivery from the destination DC.

That's clearly not good enough then, if that's the case, as there is basically no possible way to determine where the parcel has gone astray. It could be anywhere between the PO of lodgement to the DC at the destination end. Makes you wonder what the point of scanning is if they're not going to use it properly.

I wonder if the same lax attitude applies to items lodged as registered, or with SOD and/or extra cover, or even Express Post then? What it basically boils down to then, is that tracking is for all intents and purposes, completely useless. 😞