Why Quell order numbers skip some letters

Quell order numbers leave out I, L, O, U, 0 and 1 because those characters are easy to confuse when read aloud or copied by hand: O looks like zero, and I and L look like one. Every order number is Q- followed by eight characters drawn from the remaining 22 letters and the digits 2 through 9, like Q-7F3K9M2A.

What a Quell order number looks like

Every number has the same shape: the letter Q, a hyphen, then eight characters. The example on the order tracking page is Q-7F3K9M2A. That’s ten characters in all, counting the Q and the hyphen.

• Prefix: Q- on every order.
• Length: eight characters after the hyphen.
• Digits used: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
• Letters used: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y and Z.
• Never used: 0, 1, I, L, O and U.

Why the letters I, L and O are left out

These are the characters people mix up. A capital O and the digit 0 look nearly identical in many fonts. A capital I, a lowercase l and the digit 1 can all look like a single vertical stroke. When someone reads an order number off a phone screen, writes it on a sticky note or types it from a printed email, those are the characters that get swapped. With them gone, any character you see in a Quell order number can only be one thing.

And why U is missing

The code that creates order numbers spells out its purpose: these are the references customers read out on the phone, so the alphabet drops the characters people confuse when reading aloud. U sits on that list alongside I, L, O, 0 and 1. The result is a set of 30 characters, 22 letters and 8 digits, chosen so a number survives being spoken, heard and written down.

Why a short number at all

Inside the database, each order has a long internal ID of 25 characters. The payment system that processes cards limits its invoice number field to 20 characters, so the long ID can’t travel with the payment. The short Q- number does, which means the same reference ties together the order, the payment record and your confirmation email.

Are order numbers in sequence?

No. Each of the eight characters is picked at random from the 30-character set, so numbers don’t count up and don’t reveal how many orders came before yours. Thirty choices in each of eight positions gives roughly 656 billion possible numbers. The system still checks every new number against existing orders and picks again in the rare case of a match, so no two orders share one.

Random numbers also mean nobody can find a neighbor’s order by adding one to their own. And a number alone isn’t enough to look an order up: the tracking page asks for the matching email address too.

How to type your order number

The lookup on the track your order page needs your order number and the email address you used at checkout. A few tips:

• Include the Q and the hyphen.
• Capital or lowercase letters both work; the box shows what you type in capitals, and the lookup reads it that way.
• Stray spaces at the start or end are ignored, so a pasted number with an extra space still works.
• If you think you see an O, 0, I, L, 1 or U, look again: none of those can appear, so it’s a different character.
• Copy and paste from the confirmation email when you can.

If the lookup can’t find an order, it shows the same message whether the number or the email is wrong, so check both against your confirmation email. That’s deliberate: the page doesn’t reveal which order numbers exist. It also limits how many lookups can be made in a short time, so if you see a message asking you to wait, give it several minutes before trying again.

Where to find it

The order number is in the subject line and body of your confirmation email, and again in the shipping email. Where to find your order number walks through what to do if you can’t find either one, and what happens after you order covers the emails in sequence.

Reading it out on the phone

If you call about an order at 615.465.6041 (M–F 9AM–5PM CST), the order number is the quickest way to find it. Because the confusing characters are gone, you can read it straight through: “Q, dash, seven, F, three, K, nine, M, two, A.” Letters that sound alike, such as B, D, P and T, or M and N, are the only part that still needs care, and adding a word helps: “B as in boy.”

Why not just use your email address?

An email address is long, easy to mistype, and the same for every order you place. The order number points to exactly one order. Paired with the email, it lets you check status without an account. On its own, it’s what our team asks for first when you need help with a delivery, a damaged bottle, or a refund on an unopened bottle within 30 days of delivery.