How dependable is that?  I had a book coming from HI that was in the western part of my state last time I clicked on it and today it is in northern CA?  Is that just for fun or does that mean that my package was scanned into CA recently? 

The icon is meaningless. The system is just figuring that if it usually takes 9 days for a book to get from point A to point B and it's been 3 days since the book was marked mailed, it should be about 1/3 of the way along the line.

This is of course not true. The real way mail is handled is that it sits in city A for 2 days, then it gets put on a plane and arrives in city C where it sits for 4 days, then it gets driven overnight to city B where it sits for 2 more days before it gets delivered on the 9th day.

If you want to see where USPS last scanned a package, use the details button and scroll to the bottom of the window. You'll see the actual scan records there.

For a surprise...click on the Truck icon.

-RD

The truck icon is best used for entertainment purposes only.  As Cathy states, use the 'details' button for actual scan information.

Rob D. - I just clicked the truck icon on a book that I have coming.  How cute/neat is that !

Thanks all, details - I knew I could see where it was scanned somewhere along the way.

@Rob - Thanks - my coworkers freaked when I clicked on the truck and it honked!