Don't you love it when people get their site organised?
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I've come across this with virtually every courier company I've used recently - I can only assume that the end-points aren't really connected to the central system. While the sender gets the tracking number, this comes from a barcode on a preprinted docket, that tracking number only gets into the system when the courier company (or their so-called self-employed agent) pick it up from the shop & it gets scanned - or maybe not even until it gets taken to the local distribution hub if the collector is not connected wirelessly. That way, the courier company can expand their network of collections points at very low expense. So, keep hitting F5 ;)
I've had mixed results. The better systems will at least have an entry for 'Shipping Label Printed' or similar. Then at least you have some idea what is going on. Having a tracking number that returns no results because the courier hasn't yet received the package is, frankly, asinine.
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So I get an email from a courier company - naming no names, but think "Son of Zeus" and you'll get it - to tell me a package is on it's way!
Quote:
Great news! Your parcel is on its way to you and will be delivered to: [REDACTED] Our service is fully tracked. Click below to view your parcel's progress.
And a tracking link, which includes the tracking number. Click the link, and it take you to their site so you can get an idea when it will be delivered. Only one problem:
Quote:
Unknown tracking number Sorry we don't recognise that number. Please try again. Please enter your 16 digit tracking number
Come on guys! If you send someone a tracking number, make sure it works on your own system ... :sigh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
OriginalGriff wrote:
think "Son of Zeus" and you'll get it
Could be worse; at least you're not using "form of alpine singing that's deadly to Martians[^]"! :D
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer
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OriginalGriff wrote:
think "Son of Zeus" and you'll get it
Could be worse; at least you're not using "form of alpine singing that's deadly to Martians[^]"! :D
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
I've not had any problem with them, as it happens: they're pretty good round here - if run rather ragged to get the deliveries done in time...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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If I recall my Greek mythology correctly, Zeus was a busy bunny - and at least one of his paramours should probably have laid an egg, which would have confused the midwife... :laugh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
OriginalGriff wrote:
Zeus was a busy bunny - and at least one of his paramours should probably have laid an egg, which would have confused the midwife..
Mary had a little lamb The Doctor was surprised! When Old MacDonald had a farm, The old quack nearly died! :)
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
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So I get an email from a courier company - naming no names, but think "Son of Zeus" and you'll get it - to tell me a package is on it's way!
Quote:
Great news! Your parcel is on its way to you and will be delivered to: [REDACTED] Our service is fully tracked. Click below to view your parcel's progress.
And a tracking link, which includes the tracking number. Click the link, and it take you to their site so you can get an idea when it will be delivered. Only one problem:
Quote:
Unknown tracking number Sorry we don't recognise that number. Please try again. Please enter your 16 digit tracking number
Come on guys! If you send someone a tracking number, make sure it works on your own system ... :sigh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
The issue is the process flow... The tracking number is generated at the point the package is packed and the encoded shipping label is created.... That triggers the notification (in the name of prompt notification to the customer)... The problem is that the new tracking number is NOT technically in the system until the package is scanned at the receiving shipping depot. The reason apparently is that that they don't want their system cluttered with labels that go unused. To avoid this glut they only actually begin tracking at the point that the package enters the depot. While this assures that they are actually tracking live packages, the lag time between label creation and scanning at the depot creates a frustrating customer service situation. Solution 1: Add a columns to the database tracking the label information that indicates the date/time stamp of when the label was created and when the label was scanned coming into the depot. Pair with this a method of truncating labels that don't show after a period of time as well as notify the customer of the failure of the package to arrive at a depot for scanning. Pair with a process to collect complete shipping label data from a package that shows up after the label had been truncated by the prior step. There would be other possible ways to deal with this as well. One might be to modify the tracking system that you input your new label to track so that if the label isn't found in the database it would allow you to input it just the same and perhaps notify you of it being removed from tracking if the package wasn't scanned at the depot within a prescribed amount of time. Regardless, your point is well taken that this is but one example of good technology being used badly. Critical analysis of the process would reveal a much improved delivery of serice to the information consumer.
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The issue is the process flow... The tracking number is generated at the point the package is packed and the encoded shipping label is created.... That triggers the notification (in the name of prompt notification to the customer)... The problem is that the new tracking number is NOT technically in the system until the package is scanned at the receiving shipping depot. The reason apparently is that that they don't want their system cluttered with labels that go unused. To avoid this glut they only actually begin tracking at the point that the package enters the depot. While this assures that they are actually tracking live packages, the lag time between label creation and scanning at the depot creates a frustrating customer service situation. Solution 1: Add a columns to the database tracking the label information that indicates the date/time stamp of when the label was created and when the label was scanned coming into the depot. Pair with this a method of truncating labels that don't show after a period of time as well as notify the customer of the failure of the package to arrive at a depot for scanning. Pair with a process to collect complete shipping label data from a package that shows up after the label had been truncated by the prior step. There would be other possible ways to deal with this as well. One might be to modify the tracking system that you input your new label to track so that if the label isn't found in the database it would allow you to input it just the same and perhaps notify you of it being removed from tracking if the package wasn't scanned at the depot within a prescribed amount of time. Regardless, your point is well taken that this is but one example of good technology being used badly. Critical analysis of the process would reveal a much improved delivery of serice to the information consumer.
Is that really how it works? If you are looking at things from a different angle - as someone who wants to be able to expand the collection sites in your network with the minimum of fuss, no hardware, minimal interaction, what better way than to pre-print thousands(millions?) of cards with tracking numbers on them, the print function only ensuring uniqueness. Then to bring a new location onboard, say a corner shop, deliver a box with a sign saying "Collection Point" & a wad of pre-printed cards, add them to the website & courier pick-up systems (should be the same thing) & Robert's your auntie's live in lover. Yes - people interested in data consistency may well discuss it in disparaging terms, but you'll still be making money! The shops may well have a few spurious numbers cluttering up their shop, but not many as they ask the courier for more as they get short & the codes only enter the delivery system as they are used & that therefore is not cluttered up with unused codes. Doesn't seem too bad when I look at it like that. [edit] Then I remember that you can preprint the labels at home, stick them on the parcel, then take them into the shop, which blows a massive hole in the above thinking, but it took me a long time to type & I'd rather look a bit foolish than have the effort go to waste ;) [/edit]
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Is that really how it works? If you are looking at things from a different angle - as someone who wants to be able to expand the collection sites in your network with the minimum of fuss, no hardware, minimal interaction, what better way than to pre-print thousands(millions?) of cards with tracking numbers on them, the print function only ensuring uniqueness. Then to bring a new location onboard, say a corner shop, deliver a box with a sign saying "Collection Point" & a wad of pre-printed cards, add them to the website & courier pick-up systems (should be the same thing) & Robert's your auntie's live in lover. Yes - people interested in data consistency may well discuss it in disparaging terms, but you'll still be making money! The shops may well have a few spurious numbers cluttering up their shop, but not many as they ask the courier for more as they get short & the codes only enter the delivery system as they are used & that therefore is not cluttered up with unused codes. Doesn't seem too bad when I look at it like that. [edit] Then I remember that you can preprint the labels at home, stick them on the parcel, then take them into the shop, which blows a massive hole in the above thinking, but it took me a long time to type & I'd rather look a bit foolish than have the effort go to waste ;) [/edit]
Stewart Judson wrote:
I'd rather look a bit foolish than have the effort go to waste
Your effort to to look foolish has not gone to waste. :-\
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data. There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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So I get an email from a courier company - naming no names, but think "Son of Zeus" and you'll get it - to tell me a package is on it's way!
Quote:
Great news! Your parcel is on its way to you and will be delivered to: [REDACTED] Our service is fully tracked. Click below to view your parcel's progress.
And a tracking link, which includes the tracking number. Click the link, and it take you to their site so you can get an idea when it will be delivered. Only one problem:
Quote:
Unknown tracking number Sorry we don't recognise that number. Please try again. Please enter your 16 digit tracking number
Come on guys! If you send someone a tracking number, make sure it works on your own system ... :sigh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
The "tracking #" can be generated at any time the "shipping label" is "created" (which requires a call to the carrier's "label" / postage service). In the case of USPS, the shipper may contract a 3rd party postage service; which has to communicate with USPS on the client's behalf. The "discounter" in this case, are the extra "hops" that cause timing issues. Later on, the client may need to interact with USPS directly since the 3rd party may not offer all the "query" services (like "tracking"!). Usually, there is at least one event (somewhere): Shipping label created. BTW, tracking #'s are reused after a period of time (at least for some carriers).
"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then". ― Blaise Pascal
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So I get an email from a courier company - naming no names, but think "Son of Zeus" and you'll get it - to tell me a package is on it's way!
Quote:
Great news! Your parcel is on its way to you and will be delivered to: [REDACTED] Our service is fully tracked. Click below to view your parcel's progress.
And a tracking link, which includes the tracking number. Click the link, and it take you to their site so you can get an idea when it will be delivered. Only one problem:
Quote:
Unknown tracking number Sorry we don't recognise that number. Please try again. Please enter your 16 digit tracking number
Come on guys! If you send someone a tracking number, make sure it works on your own system ... :sigh:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
If you look at the details, it probably says that the label was printed. The package was not picked up yet. On the other hand, I got one of these AFTER calling to complain my package was not here. I screenshotted it with the date/time as PROOF they dropped the ball. But they should be clear. That the label was generated, and they have no idea where the package is!
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Stewart Judson wrote:
I'd rather look a bit foolish than have the effort go to waste
Your effort to to look foolish has not gone to waste. :-\
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data. There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Where's that upvote button when you need it :D
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The "tracking #" can be generated at any time the "shipping label" is "created" (which requires a call to the carrier's "label" / postage service). In the case of USPS, the shipper may contract a 3rd party postage service; which has to communicate with USPS on the client's behalf. The "discounter" in this case, are the extra "hops" that cause timing issues. Later on, the client may need to interact with USPS directly since the 3rd party may not offer all the "query" services (like "tracking"!). Usually, there is at least one event (somewhere): Shipping label created. BTW, tracking #'s are reused after a period of time (at least for some carriers).
"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then". ― Blaise Pascal
I had a guitar stolen off of a UPS truck in transit from the factory to the depot. (I actually think it was someone in the depot but that is another story) But the tracking label tracked it half way to my home from factory then it show as not being scanned yet (according to the UPS agent investigating). They finally fessed up and said that it had been 'Stolen off the truck'. The factory replaced it, and I got my guitar (how be it not the same guitar) but I still think this was an inside job.
