What is a Tracking Number? | Cochrane’s Skip to main content

What is a Tracking Number?

Shipment Senders & Receivers use the consignment number to track their shipment.   During the delivery process the driver scans the item number barcode on each freight item as delivered which our tracking system has linked to the consignment number.   
Therefore, sometimes you will see tracking search results displayed for both consignment and item numbers. 

CONSIGNMENT NUMBER 

  • The Consignment Number uniquely identifies your shipment.  It can be combination of letters and/or numbers of any length, commonly between 10 - 15 characters.
  • You can usually locate it on the shipping label and in any notification emails or text messages you receive about your shipment.
  • A consignment can be as simples as a single item in a single order or range in complexity to include multiple orders with multiple and different items.  This number can sometimes be on the printed shipping label as a printed number and/or barcode.
  • The consignment number is used to identify, describe & track a shipment during the transport process. 

ITEM NUMBER

  • An Item Number uniquely identifies an individual item within a consignment.  It can be a combination of letters and/or numbers of any length, commonly 15 – 20 characters.  
  • Often the Item Numbers are made up of the consignment number suffixed by a number for each item in the consignment. For example: Consignment ABCD12345 consisting of 3 items.  
    • Item 1 - Item Number: ABCD12345.0001
    • Item 2 - Item Number: ABCD12345.0002
    • Item 3 - Item Number: ABCD12345.0003
  • However sometimes an Item Number is just a long string of numbers.  
  • The Item Number is on the printed shipping label as a number and/or barcode.