Mondial Relay, now branded "Mondial Relay by InPost", moves parcels for Vinted, Leboncoin and more than 120,000 online shops, mostly into Points Relais (corner-shop pickup points) and Lockers. Its tracking is in French, its pickup window is shorter than most people think, and the number everyone still repeats, 8 days to collect, is wrong: since the policy change it is 5 calendar days in France. Every status and rule below is Mondial Relay's own wording, French verbatim with translation, from dated captures listed in our source ledger.
Short answer: the five tracking steps run "Colis en préparation chez l'expéditeur" (being prepared by the sender), "Colis remis à Mondial Relay" (handed to Mondial Relay), "Colis en traitement sur le site logistique" (processing at the logistics site), "Colis disponible au Point Relais" (available for pickup), and "Colis livré au destinataire" (delivered). Average delivery is "3 à 5 jours ouvrés" (3 to 5 working days) in mainland France. Once available, "vous avez 5 jours calendaires (dimanches et jours fériés inclus)", 5 calendar days including Sundays and holidays, to collect, and the deadline cannot be extended.
The statuses, translated
| Status (French, Mondial Relay's wording) | What it means |
|---|---|
| Colis en préparation chez l'expéditeur | Label created, the sender hasn't dropped it off yet |
| Colis remis à Mondial Relay / pris en charge en Locker | Dropped off at a Point Relais or Locker |
| Prise en charge de votre colis sur notre site logistique | Arrived at a Mondial Relay sorting site |
| Colis en cours de traitement sur le site | Being processed at that site |
| Colis expédié depuis le site | Dispatched from the sorting site |
| Colis en route vers le point de retrait | On its way to your pickup point |
| Colis disponible au Point Relais | Ready for collection, the pickup clock starts |
| Colis livré au destinataire | Collected or delivered |
| En avarie | Investigation closed, the parcel is lost or damaged and will be reimbursed |
Two mechanics worth knowing. First, the tracking number is "composé de 8 chiffres" (8 digits) on shipments, and the tracking page accepts "8, 10 ou 12 chiffres" depending on where the label came from. Second, notifications arrive by email, SMS and the app at each phase: "prise en charge, livraison en cours, colis arrivé". Given the volume of fake delivery texts, Mondial Relay itself recommends its app: "Compte tenu des nombreux SMS et mails frauduleux circulant actuellement, nous vous recommandons de télécharger notre application."
How long Mondial Relay takes
From their own delivery-time FAQ: "un délai moyen de 3 à 5 jours ouvrés à partir de la prise en charge", 3 to 5 working days from drop-off, for Point Relais, Locker and home delivery in mainland France, and "3 à 6 jours ouvrés" internationally. Their marketing pages sometimes quote an average of 3 working days, so treat 5 as the honest outer edge of normal. Parcels over 30 kg go Point Relais only.
The 5-day pickup window
When "Colis disponible au Point Relais" appears, the countdown begins: "Vous avez 5 jours calendaires (dimanches et jours fériés inclus) pour retirer votre colis." Sundays count. Holidays count. And there is no mercy rule: "Il n'est pas possible de prolonger le délai de garde", the holding period cannot be extended. Miss it and "il sera automatiquement retourné à l'expéditeur", the parcel goes back automatically.
Windows differ by country: 5 days in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, 7 in Italy, 8 in Spain and Portugal, and as little as 48 hours in Polish outdoor Lockers.
To collect at a Point Relais, bring "une pièce d'identité (carte d'identité, passeport, permis de conduire)" or give the withdrawal code received by email or SMS. At a Locker, you type "votre code de retrait à 6 chiffres", a 6-digit code sent only "lorsque votre colis sera mis à disposition dans le Locker", when the parcel is actually in the locker. Someone else can collect for you with their original ID and yours, no written authorization needed, photocopies refused.
If your chosen Point Relais closes or overflows, Mondial Relay reroutes "de manière automatique: dans un point de retrait à proximité", to a nearby point automatically, so check the address in your tracking before walking over.
Tracking stuck: the 5-day rule
Mondial Relay publishes its own patience threshold: "si vous constatez que votre colis est bloqué sur le même point depuis 5 jours, nous vous invitons à remplir un formulaire de contact", if the parcel has been stuck on the same step for 5 days, use the contact form. There is no phone number, the published route is the Timo chatbot and the contact form.
If the investigation ends badly, the status becomes "en avarie", which their FAQ defines precisely: "cela signifie que notre enquête est terminée et conduit au remboursement de votre colis", the inquiry is over and reimbursement follows. For senders, compensation is automatic: "Si vous n'avez pas souscrit d'assurance nous vous indemnisons un forfait de 25 euros, frais de port inclus", a flat 25 euros including postage within 10 days, with optional insurance up to 500 euros.
One crucial exception: parcels sent through partner platforms. "Un colis envoyé via un site partenaire (Vinted, Leboncoin, Rakuten...)" declared lost is compensated by the platform, not Mondial Relay: "vous devrez vous adresser à son service clients". So a lost Vinted parcel is a Vinted claim, covered in our Vinted tracking guide. The generic stuck-parcel playbook is in why a package gets stuck in transit.
The network behind the statuses
Mondial Relay's Points Relais are "des commerces de proximité tels que des supérettes, des librairies, des pressings ou encore des stations-service", real shops doing pickup on the side. Since InPost acquired the company in 2021, the combined group runs "plus de 30 500 Points Relais et 35 000 Lockers" across Europe, including 12,000 Lockers in France, and handled 190 million parcels in its last published count. Uncollected consumer-to-consumer parcels return free of charge to the Locker or Point Relais where they were dropped.
The merchant view
Mondial Relay is the cheap-and-cheerful end of French delivery, from 3.99 euros for a Locker, and its model quietly shifts work to the customer: a 5-day window, ID checks, no phone support. For a merchant, every one of those design choices becomes a support ticket when the customer misses the window or the tracking sits on "en cours de traitement". Brands shipping France with multiple carriers route by fit: Lockers for price-sensitive parcels, Colissimo or Chronopost where home delivery matters.
Pango runs that routing as rules on the order record: carrier selection per parcel, normalized tracking that translates "colis en route vers le point de retrait" into a message the customer understands, and proactive pickup reminders before the 5-day window kills the delivery, which is exactly the kind of event-to-action wiring that cuts WISMO tickets.
The bottom line
Mondial Relay tracking is five steps, two clocks and one trap: 3 to 5 working days to arrive, 5 days on the same step before you escalate, and 5 calendar days to collect before the parcel walks back to the sender. Read the status against those clocks and you always know whose move it is. For brands that want per-parcel carrier routing and proactive pickup reminders, see the post-purchase operations platform and book a demo.
