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You don't need to log in or even create an account at FedEx just to track deliveries. You just need the tracking number. It's the first thing you see when you g

by kccqzy 5y ago

You don't need to log in or even create an account at FedEx just to track deliveries. You just need the tracking number. It's the first thing you see when you go to the homepage of fedex.com

NavinF 5y ago
No, the tracking number only shows the delivery date for most carriers. You gotta login to see the delivery time.
mikestew 5y ago
This is not news to me. But of the four or so commenters saying basically the same thing (you don't need to log in), it does not seem odd that the user experience sucks less if one does NOT establish at the beginning that one has an account for such things? What the hell is that whole "Manage Delivers" page for, then? But telling me I'm doing it wrong for using an advertised feature, yeah, that's less than useful.
- lupire 5y ago
  Similarly, if you are not logged into Google, but have a cookie, and try to view a public user-shared document, login wall. No cookie? Document just works.
tepitoperrito 5y ago
You do need to login to see information on individual box delivery statuses. Otherwise, you just get the "master tracking number" delivery estimate which seems to be based off of the first box delivery date, not the date all the boxes will have arrived. There's probably a good reason things are that way for delivery tracking (see chesterson's fence). But the rabbit hole doesn't end there! Reports generated from their own customer portal don't include per-box delivery dates. They all show the delivery date of the FIRST box. This is extremely frustrating when trying to make accurate models for forecasting, or even just lead time estimation. They do this to make it harder to compare their services to competitors like DHL (oodles better than FedEX - but there are risk management considerations and also capacity issues) and it ends up harming businesses trying to serve their own customers better. This is especially annoying since they have really granular data internally that go into even more detail than just delivery date on a per box level. Attached is a screenshot of a spreadsheet fed by some internal SQL database and macros that can spit out per box information including delay reason (weather, transit, act of God) and even number of hours late. https://ibb.co/k3sNxYz https://ibb.co/k3sNxYz macro / control sheet https://ibb.co/Zzjw8TV https://ibb.co/Zzjw8TV selected column titles If anyone at FedEX is reading this please consider pushing the narrative that your business customers aren't the end of the line for the goods you move. If anyone who DOESN'T work at FedEX is reading this, I can email you a redacted copy of the spreadsheet I referenced above (just send it to tepitoperrito AT 420blaze DOT it).

by kccqzy 5y ago

You don't need to log in or even create an account at FedEx just to track deliveries. You just need the tracking number. It's the first thing you see when you go to the homepage of fedex.com

NavinF 5y ago

No, the tracking number only shows the delivery date for most carriers. You gotta login to see the delivery time.

mikestew 5y ago

This is not news to me. But of the four or so commenters saying basically the same thing (you don't need to log in), it does not seem odd that the user experience sucks less if one does NOT establish at the beginning that one has an account for such things? What the hell is that whole "Manage Delivers" page for, then? But telling me I'm doing it wrong for using an advertised feature, yeah, that's less than useful.

lupire 5y ago
Similarly, if you are not logged into Google, but have a cookie, and try to view a public user-shared document, login wall. No cookie? Document just works.

tepitoperrito 5y ago

You do need to login to see information on individual box delivery statuses. Otherwise, you just get the "master tracking number" delivery estimate which seems to be based off of the first box delivery date, not the date all the boxes will have arrived. There's probably a good reason things are that way for delivery tracking (see chesterson's fence). But the rabbit hole doesn't end there! Reports generated from their own customer portal don't include per-box delivery dates. They all show the delivery date of the FIRST box. This is extremely frustrating when trying to make accurate models for forecasting, or even just lead time estimation. They do this to make it harder to compare their services to competitors like DHL (oodles better than FedEX - but there are risk management considerations and also capacity issues) and it ends up harming businesses trying to serve their own customers better. This is especially annoying since they have really granular data internally that go into even more detail than just delivery date on a per box level. Attached is a screenshot of a spreadsheet fed by some internal SQL database and macros that can spit out per box information including delay reason (weather, transit, act of God) and even number of hours late. https://ibb.co/k3sNxYz https://ibb.co/k3sNxYz macro / control sheet https://ibb.co/Zzjw8TV https://ibb.co/Zzjw8TV selected column titles If anyone at FedEX is reading this please consider pushing the narrative that your business customers aren't the end of the line for the goods you move. If anyone who DOESN'T work at FedEX is reading this, I can email you a redacted copy of the spreadsheet I referenced above (just send it to tepitoperrito AT 420blaze DOT it).