InPost Locker Not Working? What to Do

Faults at the locker fall into five groups, and only two of them are the locker's fault. A black or frozen screen, or an 'out of service' message, is a locker fault. A scanner that will not read your phone is almost always a screen-brightness or screenshot problem, covered in the QR code guide. A door that opens and then will not close means the parcel is deeper than the compartment. 'No compartments available' means the locker is full. And an error after you scan a marketplace code can mean the label has expired or the order was cancelled, which is a marketplace question rather than a locker one.

Try tapping a different part of the screen and waiting thirty seconds; the terminals do occasionally restart themselves. If nothing happens, do not keep trying the door or the keypad. Move to the next step.

The most useful fact in this situation: an InPost QR code (and the six-digit code eBay gives alongside it) is not tied to a location. It works at any of InPost's 16,000-plus lockers and at roughly 4,000 InPost Shops, so a broken locker only costs you the walk. Open the InPost app, tap the nearest alternative and check it has a free compartment of the size you need before you set off. Supermarket car-park lockers have the most space and are usually accessible at any hour.

If no working locker is close, an InPost Shop takes the parcel over the counter: staff scan or type your code, print a temporary label and the parcel gets its first scan there. The same 15 kg and 41 × 38 × 64 cm limits apply.

Report the locker in the InPost app from its detail page, describing the fault (screen dead, door stuck, scanner not reading). Reports are how InPost prioritises engineer visits, and a locker that several people report gets fixed sooner. Do not wait for the repair: fixes can take a day or two, and your parcel is better off in the network tonight.

A door that will not close is not a fault. The compartment that opened is too shallow for the parcel: Small is 8 cm deep, Medium 19 cm and Large 41 cm, and all of them are 38 cm wide and 64 cm high. Take the parcel out, tap 'My parcel doesn't fit' on the screen and the drop-off is cancelled without charge. Choose a bigger size if one is free (for Vinted and eBay labels the size is chosen on screen, so a bigger compartment costs nothing extra), or repack from a box into a mailing bag and try again.

If a door has jammed with your parcel inside, do not force it. Note the locker's number from the screen or the app, keep any on-screen confirmation, and contact InPost through the app straight away so they know the parcel is in the compartment. Forcing a door can trigger an alarm and will not get the parcel out.

Vinted gives you five working days from the sale to get the parcel scanned, and you can ask for a three- or five-day extension in the app, which the buyer approves. eBay's Simple Delivery label is valid for seven days and its protection starts at the first scan inside the handling time you set. InPost Direct labels bought in the app are valid for 30 days. A broken locker on day one is therefore an inconvenience, not a lost sale; a broken locker on the last day means an InPost Shop or an alternative locker the same evening.

An eBay buyer's order shows InPost. At the high-street locker the screen is frozen on the InPost logo and does not respond. You wait thirty seconds, tap again, nothing. You report it in the app, which also shows a Lidl car-park locker nine minutes away with free Medium compartments. You type the six-digit code there because the sun is on the screen and the scanner struggles, choose Medium, close the door and get the confirmation. eBay marks the order dispatched within minutes, inside the one-day handling time, and the frozen locker is someone else's problem.