ShowHN: an easy way to track your packages
mypackag.es
mypackag.es
A more useful service would allow me to log in and see the current status and location of each package I've notified it about. I've had as many as 10-15 packages in transit at once before and it became tedious to make sure I got all of them. (In fact, one got lost, and I didn't notice for another month.)
On the other hand, notification of other tracking events would be useful too. I'd make it optional to have those.
Anyways, it would sure beat digging up the email and visiting the tracking page all the time to keep up with it. I also liked the suggestion about being able to see the status of all my packages on one page across shippers.
I'm sure all this complicates things for you quite a bit, as right now you don't need people to sign up or anything. You don't even need much of a website beyond what you currently have. If this version goes well I'm sure you have plans to incorporate some of this stuff, so in that regard, this seems like a great MVP.
As you hinted, I'd like to keep things as simple as possible and avoid signups if I can (criminal, I know), at the very least for the basic feature of being notified on delivery.
Other possible use cases: sending gifts, work-related purchases going to various locations/offices, returning items, etc.
Really like the 'mail to track' interface. Great way to get tracking numbers into the sytem.
I use Delivery Status by Junecloud to track packages. I have to copypasta to get them in; but then it sends me a Growl every time my package's status changes, and I can hit the Dashboard to see where my stuff is and when the estimated delivery date is.
I would need a similar level of functionality; getting an email when the package is actually delivered won't cut it. Something that had a Dashboard/Growl client and an iOS notification client, though: that I'd switch to in a heartbeat.
Create a button that says 'track now' or some other call to action.
Once I read the middle paragraph I understood how it works but I bet most people will never piece that together.
and yes, package tracking would also be good. Have a look at Dominos pizza order tracker. Something as easy as that would be fun and engaging.
How about 5 or so entry fields for tracking numbers and a button to "Create Dashboard" to track all of the at once? You'd get back a page with a long universally unique random URL that you can bookmark.
Once on the Dashboard, give the user the option to password-protect the page by registering.
I love their service!
One quick layout suggestion: Your #content div is currently set to 914px, and on Firefox, that's dropping Step 3 to a lower line. If you increase that to 915px, it lifts up to be on the same line as the first 2 steps.
Definitely like the simple nature of your app though. Signing up is as easy as adding you to the address book.
(1) gmail oauth integration: instead of having people forward tracking numbers to you, you can read their mail for them.
(2) If you can collect just a bit more data (destination address), you should be able to construct some useful statistical models predicting when packages show up at my address as a function of delivery service, day of week, season.
re: gmail - you can very easily setup a filter to automatically forward shipment confirmation emails from the places you most frequently shop (e.g, Amazon).