Behind the Scenes: Tracking Your Package

I ran across a Twitter thread a little while ago where people were ranting about the emails you get when your package has shipped. And if you click on them right away, it says it hasn’t been scanned yet. It seems to be highly irritating to some people that they would get tracking information when the box hasn’t even arrived at the post office or UPS warehouse yet.

Since I’m on the other end of that particular frustration , I just wanted to briefly explain how the whole thing works - a little behind-the-scenes of what happens on the shipping end. Maybe this has happened to you too - and not just from Soapworks Studio, but some other online retailer too.

When you place an order online with XYZ company (or me!) all of that information you type into your order synchs up to other applications for ease of business everything: printing packing slips and invoices, printing labels and postage and more - inventory management databases, accounting databases, all kinds of high tech stuff. Most importantly, your info also synchs up to the delivery services - so we can print shipping labels at our own places of business, attach them to the boxes, and often have them picked up at our own warehouse/studio/company, avoiding standing in line like regular shmoes at the Post Office.

At the very moment that your label is created and printed, the unique tracking code is also created that is attached to your box of goods. This guarantees that the outside info matches the inside stuff so nothing goes awry along the route. But it also immediately sends you an email notification the moment the tracking code is created. And that might be hours before it actually gets picked up or dropped off to the carrier who is going to deliver it to your door.

I *do* see the irritation in getting an email that at first glance is meaningless. It isn’t until the delivery folks scan it into their own system, that an estimate pops up for when the box may arrive to you. I might add - that is just an estimate. I have seen many times when that date changes repeatedly during the process. There are a number of points along the way where the box goes through a distribution point, from truck A to airplane B to truck C to driver D . . . and the arrival date gets extended because it took longer. Maybe there was a storm. Maybe the box got stuck in the back of something. Or it just plain went cross country in the wrong direction. Mistakes happen. Then it gets re-routed back. But that’s another whole can of worms and probably more irritation.

So in total transparency, after I read all those grumpy customers on Twitter, I did a little research, and there *are* ways to delay notifications. I can have rules written into my program where conditions are set - so I can set up notifications to be delayed for a specified time period, or delayed until it’s scanned into a delivery system. But these things rely on information being relayed back from those shippers - and with electronic systems, this becomes much less reliable. Meaning you may not get any notification, or it will still be too early. Which doesn’t seem as effective overall. I decided to stick with the simplest option, but the most reliable - notification at label creation.

So if you are the anxious type, don’t click on those tracking emails the second they arrive. Wait til the end of the day. By evening of that day you will have a more complete picture - your package will be scanned in and the arrival estimate will be there too. Hope this helps? I’m sure there are other companies, probably much larger and more techy-fied that do things slightly differently - Amazon for one. But this is my small potatoes approach.

And because I can’t say this enough - if there is ever something that doesn’t make sense, is unclear, or you need more information or help about an order with me, or information about any of my products, please don’t hesitate to contact me so we can figure it out. I’m always here to help.