USPS uses Moving Through Network as a grouping on its tracking help page, and the scans filed under it are In Transit, Arrived at USPS Facility, Departed USPS Facility, Forwarded and Forwarded Processed. All of them share one published definition: the package is being processed or transported to your delivering Post Office.
Knowing they share a meaning stops you reading significance into which of them happens to be on top.
USPS organises its tracking status help into five groups. Moving Through Network is one of them, and this is what it contains.
| Status as shown | Definition USPS publishes | What USPS says to do |
|---|---|---|
| In Transit | Shares one definition with the two facility scans below: the package is currently being processed or transported to your delivering Post Office. | No action requested; sign up for text or email updates. |
| Arrived at USPS Facility | Same shared definition. USPS adds that these scan types may appear multiple times from the same facility or on different days as the item travels. | No action requested. |
| Departed USPS Facility | Same shared definition. | No action requested. |
| Forwarded | The package is being forwarded to a different address, due to a change of address request or because the package is at the wrong Post Office for delivery. | No action requested. |
| Forwarded Processed | Covered by the same forwarding entry. | No action requested. |
Reading that table sideways is the useful part. Four of the five lines carry the same meaning, and none of them asks the customer to do anything. If your parcel is anywhere in this group, USPS is telling you it holds the item and is moving it, and nothing more specific than that.
Two things about this section of the tracking page reliably mislead.
The first is that the heading itself looks like a status. It sits above the scan list in the same visual weight as a real event, so a page whose top line reads Moving Through Network appears to be reporting something new when it is only labelling the category the newest scan belongs to.
The second is repetition. USPS states outright that the facility scans may appear multiple times from the same facility or on different days, which means a parcel can legitimately show three arrivals at the same plant. That looks like a loop. It is a sort.
There is one thing this grouping genuinely rules out. If a scan in this family exists, the parcel is past the Acceptance and Pre-Shipment stage, so the pre-shipment problems on our Awaiting Item page no longer apply to it.
The group tells you the parcel is in the system. Only the quoted window tells you whether it is late.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Transit window returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground Saver | $15.49 | No window supplied |
| UPS | Ground | $15.67 | 5-6 business days |
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $16.00 | 6-7 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $16.22 | 6-7 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $23.99 | 2-3 business days |
On this lane the two cheapest rows landed within a dollar of each other and quoted very different things. The Ground Saver row came back with no transit window at all, and the UPS Ground row directly above it quoted 5-6 business days. If your parcel has been showing network scans for four days and you bought the 5-6 day row, you are inside the window with time to spare.
USPS also publishes class standards to measure against, listed in its Delayed mail and packages article 000007099, checked 2026-07-28: Priority Mail Express 1-3 calendar days, Priority Mail 2-3 business days, First-Class Mail 1-5 business days, Ground Advantage 2-5 business days, and Media Mail with the rest of Package Services at 2-8 business days.
It is the only status here that means the destination changed. USPS ties it to a change of address request or to the parcel sitting at the wrong Post Office, so if it appears unexpectedly, check the address on the label before anything else.
A parcel with network scans has been accepted. That is a materially different position from one that never left pre-shipment, both for a search request and for any conversation with a buyer.
We read the carrier signal for labels bought here and show the status as given. If USPS files a scan under this heading, that is what you will see from us too, with nothing added.
It is the category USPS files several movement scans under, rather than a status of its own. The scans grouped there are In Transit, Arrived at USPS Facility, Departed USPS Facility, Forwarded and Forwarded Processed.
Five, and the first three share a single published definition: the package is currently being processed or transported to your delivering Post Office, with those scan types possibly appearing multiple times from the same facility or on different days. Forwarded and Forwarded Processed carry their own note about a change of address or a wrong delivery office.
It is neutral. It confirms the Postal Service has the parcel and is handling it, which is materially better than a pre-shipment status, and it says nothing at all about whether the item is running to schedule.
Preparing for Delivery is a separate USPS grouping and holds Arrived at Post Office, which USPS defines as the package having reached your Post Office with delivery expected today or the next postal business day. That is the local stage; Moving Through Network is the long-haul stage.