Tracking Numbers

[Ricardus]

So I recently ordered some metalwork from Germany. The parcel shipped last Saturday, but the tracking number on the shipping label PDF does not track on the Deutsche Post web site. Anyone have any ideas what's going on with this?

 

[[silent:arts]]

Try DHL:
https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/dhl-sendungsverfolgung.html

 

[Ricardus]

Try DHL:
https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/dhl-sendungsverfolgung.html

In my research I did find that DHL was somehow connected to Deutsche Post, and I did track it a few days ago. I got no useful reply the other day, and this is what I just got:

"We expect your shipment data shortly. Please note, however, that we can only provide information when the consignor has sent the consignment or consignment data to us."

I mean I am sure the package got shipped and I'll probably get it this week, but I was a bit shocked that in 2019 I wasn't able to track a parcel from another country.

 

[scott2000]

I had a package from Netherlands (iirc) recently......Was tied up in German customs for three weeks...... I did have tracking but it didn't update that entire time......actually not until it got to customs in Miami here.....

So took about a month...... for a tiny package.....

 

[Ricardus]

I had a package from Netherlands (iirc) recently......Was tied up in German customs for three weeks...... I did have tracking but it didn't update that entire time......actually not until it got to customs in Miami here.....

So took about a month...... for a tiny package.....

Volker [Silent:Arts] sent me some PCBs a month or so ago that came in a reasonable time. Similar to the amount of time things take from the UK. Maybe a day or 2 more. But this is only the 2nd thing I've ever ordered from Germany, so I guess I'll have to wait and see.

My outdoor concert live mixing schedule starts in two weeks, so I hope that metalwork comes this week. I'm building two of the Bo Hansen DI's and I can use them at my first show!

 

[scott2000]

Yes I was actually shocked at the time...definitely a record for me.....

... After reading online during my wait  I guess it seems it can go either way..... Weird thing was ,after contacting the seller on his thoughts about the delay after a few weeks, he said on his end it showed return to sender and he refunded my money...... A few days later the tracking updated in Miami..... Of course I resent payment but still strange.....

 

[tony hunt]

In my research I did find that DHL was somehow connected to Deutsche Post, and I did track it a few days ago. I got no useful reply the other day, and this is what I just got:

"We expect your shipment data shortly. Please note, however, that we can only provide information when the consignor has sent the consignment or consignment data to us."

I mean I am sure the package got shipped and I'll probably get it this week, but I was a bit shocked that in 2019 I wasn't able to track a parcel from another country.

Reading the DHL tracking statement makes me ask if the package has actually been handed over or picked up by DHL yet.

In Germany we can pay online for a delivery and either book a collection, or drop it off at a DHL counter or "Packstation".  The tracking number is generated straight away. But that does not mean the package has  left the seller and is pyhsically moving to you. 

I advise contacting the vendor and ask if the package has been handed over to DHL yet. That way you are more informed for the upcoming outdoor concert.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Tracking numbers are issued when the vendor orders the shipment, the actual package should get scanned soon after it gets picked up/dropped off and starts moving in the shipping system. I have seem variable results from different shippers.

Customs can be another wild card... I had one customer (in europe) drag his feet about picking up his unit, and his country's customs office shipped it back to the US, that effectively doubled the shipping cost.

JR

 

[Ricardus]

Reading the DHL tracking statement makes me ask if the package has actually been handed over or picked up by DHL yet.

In Germany we can pay online for a delivery and either book a collection, or drop it off at a DHL counter or "Packstation".  The tracking number is generated straight away. But that does not mean the package has  left the seller and is pyhsically moving to you. 

I advise contacting the vendor and ask if the package has been handed over to DHL yet. That way you are more informed for the upcoming outdoor concert.

The vendor told me the parcel was shipped, and asked me to email him when I receive the package. To me that sounds like he handed it over to the shipper. Beyond that I have no idea what's going on.

So what is the deal with DHL in Germany? Are they handling international shipping for Deutsche Post? I know here in the states USPS does work with other commercial shippers now.

 

[[silent:arts]]

DHL Express is owned by DHL, DHL is owned by Deutsche Post, together they are part of the Deutsche Post DHL Group.
20,57% is still owned by the German Government.

Tracking numbers do not always work. I have had enough trouble with DHL showing it is in the US, and USPS tracking still says "shipment announced". The gateways between countries often don't work.
Shipping times vary a lot too. My record holding package so far was six months to New York City.
If the value is below EUR 1000 we didn't have customs checking packages going outside the EU,
but that was before someone started trade wars.

 

[Ricardus]

DHL Express is owned by DHL, DHL is owned by Deutsche Post, together they are part of the Deutsche Post DHL Group.
20,57% is still owned by the German Government.

Tracking numbers do not always work. I have had enough trouble with DHL showing it is in the US, and USPS tracking still says "shipment announced". The gateways between countries often don't work.
Shipping times vary a lot too. My record holding package so far was six months to New York City.
If the value is below EUR 1000 we didn't have customs checking packages going outside the EU,
but that was before someone started trade wars.

Not to belabor the point, but for me, this is the first time I have been given a tracking number, and was not able to get any tracking data. 

I remember last year I ordered some new ear pads for my AKG headphones from ebay, and I had no idea they were coming from china. So they shipped and I got them two weeks later, and I was able to track it the entire way.

Anyway, hopefully I see my metal this week. 

 

[moamps]

You can try also some international sites to trace the tracking number:

https://www.17track.net/en
https://www.parcelmonitor.com/track-it-online/

Are you sure he used DHL? Maybe he used Hermes.

 

[Ricardus]

You can try also some international sites to trace the tracking number:

https://www.17track.net/en
https://www.parcelmonitor.com/track-it-online/

Are you sure he used DHL? Maybe he used Hermes.

Thanks for those suggestions.

The label PDF he sent me says Deutsche Post.

 

[[silent:arts]]

Deutsche Post labels are either Parcels or Warenpost.
For both tracking is not standard (but can be purchased as an option).
You may ask the seller for a tracking link.

 

[Ricardus]

Must be he didn't purchase the tracking option.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Fed Ex, UPS and DHL are courriers, with continuity of service; the parcel is loaded in a Fed Ex van, to a Fed Ex plane, then to another Fed Ex van that delivers to your delivery site. Deusche Post, like Royal Mail, La Poste... are posts; they have correspondants in foreign countries.  You get a tracking number that tracks the parcel for as long as it is in the country of origin. When it leaves the country of origin, there is another message with another tracking info. Very often it's difficult to know which is what, particularly if you're expecting several parcels.

 

[Ricardus]

Fed Ex, UPS and DHL are courriers, with continuity of service; the parcel is loaded in a Fed Ex van, to a Fed Ex plane, then to another Fed Ex van that delivers to your delivery site. Deusche Post, like Royal Mail, La Poste... are posts; they have correspondants in foreign countries.  You get a tracking number that tracks the parcel for as long as it is in the country of origin. When it leaves the country of origin, there is another message with another tracking info. Very often it's difficult to know which is what, particularly if you're expecting several parcels.

That actually hasn't been my experience with international packages. I've always been able to use the original tracking number on the original carrier's site, and they had information transmitted to them even after the package was transferred to US Postal Service, and I could track it right to my door.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

That actually hasn't been my experience with international packages. I've always been able to use the original tracking number on the original carrier's site, and they had information transmitted to them even after the package was transferred to US Postal Service, and I could track it right to my door.

You've been lucky!

 

[Ricardus]

OK, great news. The package arrived today despite not being able to track it!

It's amazing that packages arrive even when we can't track them, isn't it?

Next you'll tell me something crazy like phones used to have cords attached to them and we used to have to wait hours to download 200K Zip files.

 

[PRR]

> not being able to track it!

I ordered some free-shipping Chinese bits. I was able to track the truck from outside Hong Kong to Beijing airport. Then they posted a China Air flight number. I got on the airline tracker and tracked the airplane over the Pole, Hudson Bay, landed at NYC 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

And then nothing until the day it appeared in my mailbox.

At NYC airport it gets thrown into Customs. Gems? Drugs? Counterfeits? Nobody scans it going in, and it only gets out because more China crap arrives twice a day and the room fills up. Then it is tossed to US Postal Service. That "free shipping"? This is really paid by USPS, who resents it, and doesn't scan for a 4-state transfer. It actually scanned at my local PO when they put it on the route truck to my mailbox, and she drives faster than the USPS tracking updates.