diff --git a/src/carriers/stcourier.ts b/src/carriers/stcourier.ts
index 9eafbbf..64ec57b 100644
--- a/src/carriers/stcourier.ts
+++ b/src/carriers/stcourier.ts
@@ -219,9 +219,11 @@ export const stcourier: Carrier = {
     return {
       carrier: "stcourier",
       trackingNumber: cleaned,
-      // Prefer the summary cell — it's ST Courier's own rollup — and fall back
-      // to the newest scan when the table is missing.
-      status: current ? mapStatus(current) : latest ? latest.status : "unknown",
+      // Prefer the newest scan. ST Courier's "Current Status" summary cell lags
+      // its own timeline — it still read "In Transit" while the latest scan was
+      // already "Out for Delivery" — so it's only a fallback when there are no
+      // scans to read.
+      status: latest ? latest.status : current ? mapStatus(current) : "unknown",
       origin,
       destination,
       events,
diff --git a/workers/poller/index.ts b/workers/poller/index.ts
index 6ad207a..43497eb 100644
--- a/workers/poller/index.ts
+++ b/workers/poller/index.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ async function sha256Hex(input: string): Promise<string> {
 async function processWatch(env: Env, w: WatchRow): Promise<void> {
   const carrier = getCarrier(w.carrier);
   if (!carrier) {
+    // The poller is deployed separately from the web app (`npm run
+    // deploy:poller`), so a carrier added to the registry is live on the site
+    // while this worker still has the old bundle. That combination silently
+    // stamps last_polled_at and leaves last_known_status null — the dashboard
+    // shows "awaiting first scan" forever and no alerts fire. Log it loudly.
+    console.warn(
+      `watch ${w.id} references unknown carrier "${w.carrier}" — this poller bundle predates it; redeploy the poller.`,
+    );
     await markPolled(env.DB, w.id);
     return;
   }