So, when I got the last package I decided to check it and put the number on the box into the tracking form, and turned out it was tracked by both USPS and Russian Post.
I'd really like to know this too. ("We are currently unable to provide tracking information for international packages" has always seemed rather cryptically incomplete).
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I believe this might be the answer to your question.
Thanks. (I still don't really get why it's difficult, but at least I know the reason now). :)
Mmmmmm. What Vic's saying in his post is basically that their system issues orders/instructions to a 3rd party. Mail Innovations, which a quick Google tells me is a part of UPS.
Now, I have a few customers who do manufacturing and they have custom UPS software/hardware. Most of them are small offices, so UPS prefers to provide a computer that has their stuff pre-installed, and the customer (equivalent to Paizo) just uses it.
The customer types/imports a shipment into the software. "X weight going to Y destination". The software prints out a label which the customer slaps on a box. End of story.
Yes, the software has the ability for the customer to import the destination information, but it doesn't link with the customer's database at all. So there's no way to get data OUT of the UPS software. So yes, a Paizo employee is holding a package with a label on it and that label has the UPS tracking number on it. Alas, there's no way to get that number back into Paizo's system to give it you, Mr. Purchaser, except for that Paizo employee zapping the barcode with a reader. That's a layer of work, on top of whatever is needed to change in Paizo's system to store said number and to make it available to you and I.
Could it be done? Yes. Can it be done trivially? No. Does UPS offer larger-scale software that integrates with their customers' software... I'm sure of it, but that likely isn't available at the small business level, where Paizo is.
Anyway, I may be off here, but given what experience I've had (as an IT guy) with shipping software, I think I'm pretty darned close.
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Mail Innovations actually does provide a tracking number. That's how most of my Paizo stuff comes, and I get the tracking number in my shipment email.
What the others are talking about is international Priority Mail via the USPS.
Mmmmmm. What Vic's saying in his post is basically that their system issues orders/instructions to a 3rd party. Mail Innovations, which a quick Google tells me is a part of UPS.
Now, I have a few customers who do manufacturing and they have custom UPS software/hardware. Most of them are small offices, so UPS prefers to provide a computer that has their stuff pre-installed, and the customer (equivalent to Paizo) just uses it.
The customer types/imports a shipment into the software. "X weight going to Y destination". The software prints out a label which the customer slaps on a box. End of story.
Yes, the software has the ability for the customer to import the destination information, but it doesn't link with the customer's database at all. So there's no way to get data OUT of the UPS software. So yes, a Paizo employee is holding a package with a label on it and that label has the UPS tracking number on it. Alas, there's no way to get that number back into Paizo's system to give it you, Mr. Purchaser, except for that Paizo employee zapping the barcode with a reader. That's a layer of work, on top of whatever is needed to change in Paizo's system to store said number and to make it available to you and I.
Could it be done? Yes. Can it be done trivially? No. Does UPS offer larger-scale software that integrates with their customers' software... I'm sure of it, but that likely isn't available at the small business level, where Paizo is.
Anyway, I may be off here, but given what experience I've had (as an IT guy) with shipping software, I think I'm pretty darned close.
Cheers. I knew there'd be a reason it was hard.
I've just enrolled in a diploma and got an email from them saying "Your stuff is on the way, we'll give you a tracking number later". Then a day or two later I got the number (ironically, the same day the package was delivered :p). I suppose they're just signed up for the generic mailing software you mentioned (or the Australia Post equivalent, anyhow).
It's things like that that have always made me puzzle over Paizo's lack of tracking numbers. Of course, now they have UPS, I get tracking numbers AND I get stuff quicker, so it's win-win. :)
Mail Innovations actually does provide a tracking number. That's how most of my Paizo stuff comes, and I get the tracking number in my shipment email.
What the others are talking about is international Priority Mail via the USPS.
Just FYI, I'm one of those darned foreigners who gets their international priority mail via USPS. It appears that UPS' "Mail Innovations" division handles the initial pickup, then things transit via USPS to our local ports-of-call.
My parcels have exactly two labels on them. One is a USPS label that also has UPS legalese on it (the originating/Paizo/customs label), and one is added afterwards by Canada Post once it enters their system.
While Mail Innovations may be providing tracking numbers for domestic shipments, and while the precise details of the process are obviously obfuscated to me, I (currently) stand by my interpretation of the logistics involved. Maybe the company involved is actually called Penguin Nipples Inc, but they involve USPS, UPS, and not providing a means for Paizo to get us foreigners our tracking numbers. <Grin>
The following is self-parody...
Quick secret facts about non-US countries:
1} We keep a reserve of frightening diseases to tell you about on slow news days.
2} We hide real bathrooms with actual toilets where you can't find them. Those rooms with weird contraptions... we send you to them for a laugh.
3} Everyone world-wide speaks English. Without an accent. We're all faking not understanding you. Because we're mean.
4} We use weird electrical sockets purely so we can make money selling you universal adapters.
But seriously, as a citizen of the only country wedged literally into yours, we love you. If you need a cup of sugar or something, come on over any time. We're totally not cannibals or anything.
Chief Technical Officer
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Mmmmmm. What Vic's saying in his post is basically that their system issues orders/instructions to a 3rd party. Mail Innovations, which a quick Google tells me is a part of UPS.
Now, I have a few customers who do manufacturing and they have custom UPS software/hardware. Most of them are small offices, so UPS prefers to provide a computer that has their stuff pre-installed, and the customer (equivalent to Paizo) just uses it.
The customer types/imports a shipment into the software. "X weight going to Y destination". The software prints out a label which the customer slaps on a box. End of story.
Yes, the software has the ability for the customer to import the destination information, but it doesn't link with the customer's database at all. So there's no way to get data OUT of the UPS software. So yes, a Paizo employee is holding a package with a label on it and that label has the UPS tracking number on it. Alas, there's no way to get that number back into Paizo's system to give it you, Mr. Purchaser, except for that Paizo employee zapping the barcode with a reader. That's a layer of work, on top of whatever is needed to change in Paizo's system to store said number and to make it available to you and I.
Could it be done? Yes. Can it be done trivially? No. Does UPS offer larger-scale software that integrates with their customers' software... I'm sure of it, but that likely isn't available at the small business level, where Paizo is.
Anyway, I may be off here, but given what experience I've had (as an IT guy) with shipping software, I think I'm pretty darned close.
Your big picture is pretty darn close, but some of the details are wrong.
We basically have three potential carriers for a package: UPS, USPS, and Mail Innovations.
UPS offers a full API, meaning our system can seamlessly exchange information with their system. We send them info on a package, and they give back the info we need, including the tracking number and a printable label.
USPS doesn't have an API we can talk to; instead, we have a licensed third-party application. Our system feeds it the info it needs, and it prints the label. Getting the tracking info that it generates into our system brings up the problems you outlined above.
Mail Innovations is this weird-but-cool service that involves them bundling packages to like destinations from multiple sources, getting them close to the destination using a bulk shipping method, then depositing them into the local postal system for final "last leg" delivery. So, for example, if we have packages going to London, MI bundles them with other MI packages going to London, puts them on a plane to England, and delivers them to a Royal Mail distribution center in or near London for delivery to the customer.
For MI, we create a label that has the destination address, our return address, and a unique bar code that we generate (and where appropriate, a customs declaration). MI picks it up and processes it, adding a proper postage label prior to depositing it in the local mail.
Now, when the last leg is handled by the US Postal Service, since they have a full data exchange with MI, that bar code we generated gets used as a tracking number. (There is sometimes a delay in updating the status after MI hands the package to the USPS, but before the USPS enters it into the system—and because that happens at *almost* the very end of the process, sometimes the tracking info for the USPS leg doesn't appear until *after* the package has been delivered.)
Since MI trackability depends on their interoperability with the last-leg postal service, it's not reliable internationally... even though it might actually sometimes work in some countries.