Q: What happens when UPS shows “Delivery Attempted” status? → A: UPS made up to 3 delivery attempts but couldn’t complete delivery due to no one being home, signature requirements, or address issues — your package is held at a UPS facility or Access Point for pickup within 7 days.
When you see “Delivery Attempted UPS” in your tracking, it means UPS tried to deliver your package but encountered an obstacle. With UPS making up to 3 delivery attempts per package and 11% of all online orders facing delivery exceptions, understanding how to quickly resolve these issues prevents delays and keeps customers satisfied.
What Does “Delivery Attempted UPS” Mean?
“Delivery Attempted UPS” indicates that a UPS driver visited your delivery address but was unable to complete the delivery for a specific reason. UPS makes up to 3 delivery attempts at its discretion on regular business days before marking a package as undeliverable.
The most common reasons for delivery attempts include no one being available to receive the package, signature requirements for high-value items, security restrictions at apartment complexes, or incorrect address information. Each failed attempt triggers an automatic reschedule for the next business day.
After the final delivery attempt, UPS holds your package at a local facility or delivers it to a nearby UPS Access Point location. Packages remain available for pickup for 7 calendar days before being returned to the sender as undeliverable.
How UPS Delivery Attempts Work
UPS follows a structured approach for delivery attempts across all Ups Services And Shipping Options service levels. The driver attempts delivery during normal business hours and leaves a delivery notice if unsuccessful. This notice contains tracking information and instructions for rescheduling or pickup options. Understanding how many times UPS will attempt delivery helps you plan appropriately for package receipt.
Mini Q&A: UPS Delivery Attempts
Q: How many times does UPS attempt delivery?
A: UPS makes up to 3 delivery attempts on consecutive business days before holding the package for pickup.
Q: What happens if I miss all delivery attempts?
A: Your package is held at a UPS facility or Access Point for 7 days, then returned to sender if not collected.
| UPS Service Level | Delivery Attempts | Hold Period |
|---|---|---|
| UPS Ground | Up to 3 attempts | 7 calendar days |
| UPS 2nd Day Air | Up to 3 attempts | 7 calendar days |
| UPS Next Day Air | Up to 3 attempts | 7 calendar days |
| UPS Express Saver | Up to 3 attempts | 7 calendar days |
Why Do UPS Delivery Attempts Fail?
UPS delivery attempts fail for several predictable reasons that shippers and recipients can proactively address. Understanding these causes helps prevent future delivery exceptions and ensures packages reach their destination on the first attempt.
Address and Location Issues
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What to Do in the First Hour After “Delivery Attempted”
The window right after a failed UPS attempt is when you have the most control. UPS typically retries on the next business day automatically, but you do not have to wait: through UPS My Choice you can redirect the package to a nearby UPS Access Point (a partner retail location or locker), authorize a signature release, or provide delivery instructions like a gate code or a safe-drop location. Acting the same afternoon usually reaches the package before it is loaded for the next day’s retry, which is what lets you change its fate rather than just watch a second attempt fail the same way.
Why Three Failed Attempts Trigger Return to Sender
UPS makes up to three delivery attempts on most services before the package is held and then returned to the shipper. Each attempt is usually on a separate business day, so the clock is shorter than it looks — a Monday first attempt can reach return-to-sender status by Thursday. If a signature is required and no one is available across all three days, the package goes back regardless of how many notes you leave. The reliable fix is to convert the delivery to a Will Call hold or an Access Point pickup after the first failure, which stops the three-strike countdown entirely.
Address and Access Fixes That Prevent Repeat Failures
Repeat “delivery attempted” scans on the same address usually trace to a fixable root cause: a missing apartment or suite number, a locked lobby or gated community with no buzzer access, a business address scanned after hours, or a driver unable to obtain a required signature. Adding a secondary address line, a callback phone number, or delivery instructions to the shipment before it is out for delivery removes the obstacle. For businesses that ship repeatedly to gated or commercial destinations, booking with clear access notes at label creation prevents the loop from starting.
Using a UPS Access Point After a Failed Attempt
When repeated home delivery is not working, rerouting to a UPS Access Point is usually the cleanest fix. Access Points are staffed retail partners and lockers that hold your package for a set number of days, letting you collect it on your own schedule with an ID and the tracking or notification code. This bypasses the whole attempt-and-retry cycle because the package waits in one fixed location instead of riding the truck out and back. For anyone who is regularly not home during delivery hours, defaulting shipments to an Access Point in UPS My Choice prevents “delivery attempted” scans from ever happening.
Signature-Required Shipments and How to Plan for Them
A large share of “delivery attempted” outcomes come from signature-required shipments where no one was available to sign, and these behave differently from ordinary parcels. You generally cannot waive an adult-signature requirement remotely, because the shipper chose it, but you can arrange to collect the package yourself or redirect it to an Access Point where you present ID. If you are expecting a high-value order that likely requires a signature, plan for it up front — arrange to be home, provide access instructions, or preemptively route it to a pickup location — rather than discovering the requirement only after the first failed attempt.
Delivery Attempted vs. Other UPS Exception Scans
“Delivery attempted” is only one of several UPS exception scans, and telling it apart from its neighbors changes what you should do next. It is not the same as “address correction needed,” where UPS holds the parcel and wants better address details, nor “delivery change requested,” where someone has already rerouted it, nor a weather or mechanical “delay,” where no attempt was made at all. The distinction matters because a genuine attempt counts toward UPS’s three-tries-then-return limit, while the others generally do not advance that clock. Reading the precise wording on the tracking detail tells you whether you are burning one of your three attempts or simply waiting on a package that never left the building for your door.
Attempt Timing at Homes vs. Businesses
UPS times attempts differently by address type, which decides when you need to be reachable. Residential attempts fall across a broad daytime window with no promised hour unless you have set a UPS My Choice delivery window, so passively waiting rarely works. Commercial attempts track the business’s posted hours, and a parcel that arrives after a business has closed is still logged as an attempt even though the location was simply shut for the day. For a home recipient the fix is a My Choice window or an Access Point redirect; for a business it is making sure the receiving hours UPS has on file match the hours someone is actually present to sign.
Where the Package Sits Between Attempts
Between tries, an undeliverable UPS parcel does not ride the truck around — it returns to the local UPS center each evening and reloads the next business day, which is why a second attempt is never same-day. That overnight cycle is your intervention window: any Access Point redirect, address correction, or delivery-change instruction you enter after a failed attempt is applied before the package reloads the following morning. Waiting to physically catch the driver forfeits that window, which is the most dependable lever a recipient actually has once the first “delivery attempted” scan appears.
Reading the UPS InfoNotice a Driver Leaves
When a UPS driver leaves after a failed attempt, the InfoNotice slip is the fastest map to your next move. It records which attempt number this was, whether a signature is required and at what level, and whether the driver will try again or has already redirected the parcel to a nearby Access Point for pickup. Checking those fields tells you immediately whether to expect another attempt, arrange to be present, or simply collect the package with ID at the listed location, instead of guessing from the online scan alone.
The slip also notes if the driver needs something specific from you, such as a signature release or a corrected suite number, which is often the single detail that turns a second failed attempt into a successful one.
Part of our UPS Delivery Schedule guide. Related: UPS Delivery Policy, UPS Business Days, UPS Closing Time.
