That was very non-standard (as the bulk of the responses here have noted they had to request). Perhaps you (or a travelling companion) mentioned it to an agent at some point and they decided to surprize you.

Nobody mentioned it. We have not developed any relationship with United agents. In my city they are not nice. In the ORD UCs they are not nice. I only asked here on FT the name of that thing for if I had to request it but it arrived on its own. So, maybe United knows who StuckinITH is. It should not be too difficult for them to figure it out when I posted my numbers (and my wife's numbers) in the status progression thread. We'll see if this year my wife's one appears on our doorstep without requesting it as she qualified for 1K in December 2018.

I was wrong on the date of unrequested arrival of the yellow handle last year: it was not at the end of March, it was at the beginning of March. Post #377 in this thread has the correct date: March 5, 2018.

Wrote to 1K voice requesting a yellow wrap. Next day goat a phone call (!) from United. The agent said that they ordered one and apologized that it will take a few weeks to arrive. The phone call seems like an unusual way to respond, I expected an e-mail.

Stamp YEAR on handle wraps?
 

I see lots of dirty old handle wraps, many from former 1K's. Why doesn't United stamp the current year on the wrap in order to indicate its "validity"? Just a thought.

I think you will see dirty, old wraps from both present and former 1K's. Stamping the year would make this more costly and the date would be impossible to read without close inspection. And easily defeated -- just turn the "date" so it is under the bag handle.

Changing the color would be a more effective solution but also very costly to replace all the still valid 1Ks with dirty old handle wraps.

Bottom line, probably not worth the effort.

This is a solution in need of a problem.

Or just have the gate agent hand out a different colored "green" tag for elites.

Given that the handle wraps rarely do anything (except act as an additional brag tag), why would it even matter to enforce?

I just gave up my "original issue year" yellow wrap. First trip today on a UAEX flight with with a clean new one. For a while I felt some sense of pride over how long I've had the wrap, then looked at it this morning and realized it was just a dirty, threads-sticking-out, handle wrap with the "UNITED" name completely obliterated. I don't care whether someone thinks a new one means I just made 1K, I just care about getting my gate-checked bag as soon as possible.

United 1K/GS Yellow handle wrap
 

Received an email from United that stated: Thanks for participating in the MileagePlus program! The handle wraps are sent out separately within the first quarter.

They seem to work about 50% of the time . . . and 100% of the time as a brag tag.

First requested my yellow handle wrap in November after making 1K at the end of September. Was assured it would be mailed out in 2-3 weeks (so end of Nov). Inquired about it just before Christmas and got no response. Asked again on Jan 1st and was told they couldn't process my request until after Feb 13. No information from them since then so just sent yet another request/inquiry. At this point, I feel like they're going to tell me just wait until next year (when I likely won't even be Platinum).

Based on prior year reports -- it is very common for there to be a blackout period from Nov to Feb on the availability of the wraps.

Aside from bags to/from Canada, where they don't seem to bother sorting the bags, I've had an almost 100% first delivered rate.