Track and get real-time status updates for Purolator shipments.
Purolator Inc. is one of Canada's largest courier and freight companies. It began in 1960 as Trans Canadian Couriers, and today Canada Post owns roughly 91% of it, with Rainmaker Investments Ltd. holding most of the rest. It employs more than 14,000 people, runs one of the widest delivery networks in the country — remote communities included — and works with UPS to carry shipments beyond Canada.
The first thing that catches people out is the vocabulary. Purolator does not call the number on your label a tracking number: it calls it a PIN, short for Package Identification Number. Its own tracking tools accept either that PIN or a "Tracking Reference" — a code of up to 15 characters that the shipper chose for their own records. So if a seller sent you a short word or an order code rather than a long number, that is what you are holding, and it is a valid thing to search with.
The second is timing. Purolator states plainly that tracking results are only shown once the shipment has been physically received and scanned by Purolator. A label that has just been printed therefore shows nothing at all, and Purolator's own status list includes "No Scanning Detail Available", which it explains as the shipment either not being with Purolator yet or simply not having been scanned. One more status is worth knowing about in advance: "New Tracking Number Assigned". A shipment can be re-labelled mid-journey, at which point the original PIN stops moving and a new one carries the rest of the trip.
Ships for: Canadian retailers and online sellers shipping within Canada, Businesses sending freight and heavier shipments domestically, Cross-border shippers moving goods between Canada and the United States
Tracking number format: Purolator calls it a PIN (Package Identification Number). Most Purolator PINs seen on the 24hTrack platform are 12 characters long — commonly three letters followed by nine digits, sometimes twelve digits. Purolator's own tools additionally accept a shipper-assigned Tracking Reference of up to 15 characters
Typical delivery time: Purolator Express is the guaranteed next-business-day family, sold in time-definite bands: delivery by 9 a.m., by 10:30 a.m., by noon, or in an evening window between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., to selected destinations in Canada. Purolator Ground is the slower, distance-based option and arrives in two or more business days depending on where it is going. Anything crossing a border adds customs clearance, which is a separate step and is usually where a shipment sits longest without a new scan.
Knowing where your parcel is makes it easier to plan the day you collect it. With 24hTrack you don't need an account on Purolator's website. Paste the tracking number in the box above and we work out which carrier it belongs to and show you every scan Purolator has published, on one page.
Official carrier website: www.purolator.com
Purolator labels it a PIN — Package Identification Number. It is printed on the shipping label and normally repeated in the dispatch email or text the sender sends you. If the sender only gave you an order code or a short word, that can still work: Purolator's tracking also accepts a Tracking Reference of up to 15 characters that the shipper assigned to the shipment. Paste whichever one you have into the box above.
Purolator only displays results once the shipment has been physically received and scanned by Purolator, so a number issued at the moment the label was printed will show nothing until the parcel is actually handed over. Its own status list carries "No Scanning Detail Available" for exactly this case, and explains it as the item either not being with Purolator or not yet having been scanned. If the number stays empty well past the date the sender said they shipped, the sender is the person who can confirm it left — and it is worth asking whether the shipment was re-labelled, because Purolator does issue a new PIN mid-journey and posts a "New Tracking Number Assigned" scan when it happens.
No. Purolator publishes scan events at fixed points in the journey rather than a moving map of the vehicle. The sequence you will see reads "Received by Purolator", "Shipment In Transit", "Left" and "Arrived at" a named depot, then "On Purolator vehicle for delivery" on the day itself, and finally a delivery scan. "On Purolator vehicle for delivery" is the closest thing to a live signal: it means the parcel is on a van heading for the delivery address that day.
They are separate companies, but not unrelated: Canada Post holds about 91% of Purolator. Parcels move on Purolator's own courier network with Purolator's own PINs and scans, which is why a Purolator number will not resolve on a Canada Post tracking page and the other way round. For destinations outside Canada, Purolator works with UPS to complete the journey, so an international shipment can appear under a second carrier's number once it leaves the country.
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