TrackMyShipments Offers Simple Email-Based Package Tracking

By Ben Gross
in

The web-based interfaces offered by the various shipping services allow you to schedule shipments, offer integrated billing ,stored address books, online package tracking. A number of third party services offer simplified interfaces and allow you to track shipments from multiple carriers at once. Still, managing the process inputing multiple tracking numbers into multiple services can be cumbersome. I prefer the email-based input method used by the TrackMyShipments service.

Say you ordered a new hard disk online to get an early start on your New Years resolution to make regular backups and you want to see if it will be delivered today or tomorrow. The most common way to find out the status of your package is to search through your email to find the confirmation email from the store that contains the tracking number for your drive. If you are lucky the store has formatted the message so you can simply click on a link and it will take you directly to the page on the shippers site that has information about the state of your package. Unfortunately, I find many stores do not give their customers such an easy path and so must copy the number from the email and paste it into the web form for your package carrier. You might even already have an account on the package carriers web site that lets you save the number for future reference or set up email or SMS alerts to let you know when there is progress or problems. For most people, this somewhat cumbersome process is the norm.

TrackMyShipments is an email-based online package tracking service. I have been using the service for about a year and a half and have found it be the most streamlined method to track packages. The email-based component of the service is the interesting part. Once you have gone through a very quick signup process, you can begin to forward any email messages from vendors that contain tracking numbers to track [at] trackmyshipments [dot] com. The service will then let you know when the shipping status changes. Similar to the TripIt, TrackMyShipments takes advantage of the fact that you already have the tracking numbers sent to you in email, which is similar to the TripIt travel planning service I reviewed previously.

There are a small number of options to configure the level of detail about the status of the shipment. If you choose, the service will notify you about every hop the package takes along the route, but in my experience this is far too much information. I configure the service to notify me on the day of delivery and exception information. This means I get notified that the package is out for delivery and when it is delivered or if there are any problems with the delivery. All of the package carriers have pretty significant lag in their delivery status information and TrackMyShipments can not give you any more information than the carriers have, it’s just more convenient.

The basic TrackMyShipments service is free for tracking up to 9 shipments at a time. You will receive email updates about that status of your package or you can log on to the TrackMyShipments web site to see the status and location of all of your shipments at once. TrackMyShipments Pro costs $20 a year and gives you the ability to track unlimited packages and receive notifications about the shipping status via SMS. I suspect most people will find the basic more than adequate, although those with greater package tracking needs will find the pro service a bargain.

TrackMyShipments created an iPhone and iPod Touch application that gives mobile users the ability to see the current status of all packages tracked and the ability to remove any packages from tracking. Previously the service offered a free lite version of the iPhone application and a full version for $2. Currently, the full iPhone version of TrackMyShipments is available for free on the iTunes store. The iPhone application works with both basic and pro accounts.

Overall, I have found TrackMyShipments to be the most convenient way to track packages online. The service is simple to use and in my experience it just works. You simply send the TrackMyShipments your emails containing the tracking numbers and the service will email or SMS you when package status changes. While neither the TrackMyShipments web site nor the iPhone application will win any design or usability awards, there is little reason to use either unless you want an overview of all shipments at once. TrackMyShipments currently supports tracking DHL, FedEx, UPS, and US Postal Service packages.

Published November 20, 2009