DIY package tracking

September 16, 2020 12:07 PM

I want to get a text or email delivery notification for a shipping company that only lets me check a tracking number on a website. Is there some way I can automate this?

The delivery company is GLS and the website is gso.com. I get a new tracking number every two weeks. When I get the tracking number, I would like to set something up to check the website every 15 or 30 minutes until it says the package has been delivered, then send me a text or email saying so.

I'm not going to share the actually tracking number publicly here but memail me if that would be helpful. The website says the following, with each line being added as that event happens:

Transit Notes

Date/Time Location Note
09/01/20 09:24 PM SAN JOSE, CA ARRIVAL SCAN - DELIVERY SCHED FOR 09/02/2020
09/02/20 09:53 AM SPARKS, NV SCANNED AT DELIVERY DEPOT
09/02/20 11:12 AM SPARKS, NV ON ROUTE FOR DELIVERY
09/02/20 04:22 PM SPARKS, NV SHIPMENT DELIVERED

Is this something IFTTT could be used for? Any other ideas? I'm moderately good at figuring out technical stuff but haven't done much with scripting languages; also I'm short on time while dealing with a newborn and a toddler, so I could use help getting pointed in the right direction. Thank you!

FWIW, this is a fresh fish delivery that gets delivered rather close to dinner time, so I'd like to pick it up promptly.

posted by carolr to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Packagetrackr appears to track GSO. I have lots of experience using Packagetrackr, but none using GSO. I send tracking emails to Packagetrackr through email forwarding and Packagetrackr immediately picks them up and starts tracking the package.

There are other package tracking websites, and others may offer the same service.

If you want to spin this yourself, you could access the EasyPost API for GSO, which is free for a few packages per year.
posted by saeculorum at 12:27 PM on September 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

followthatpage.com will email you within an hour of any page changing, if there's a URL you can go to with your tracking number in it
posted by katrielalex at 12:46 PM on September 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

I second Packagetrackr, though it tends to check every hour or two, not the frequency you're looking for.
posted by wnissen at 12:50 PM on September 16, 2020

Response by poster: Packagetrackr looked so good but it says "The shipping carrier doesn't have the tracking information in their system yet," for today's parcel and the parcel that was delivered two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the URL does not include the tracking number and it not otherwise unique.
posted by carolr at 1:43 PM on September 16, 2020

Mac or iOS app Deliveries claims it can track GLS packages, but I haven't used the app and I'm not sure if you're on PC/Android/etc.
posted by bluecore at 3:43 PM on September 16, 2020

I use AfterShip, which claims to support GLS (although my usage has been with other courier companies). There are apps for Android and iOS, with the same email forwarding option that PackageTrackr has.
posted by Tawita at 3:55 PM on September 16, 2020

EasyPost will track GSO/GLS packages, but I don’t think the polling frequency is quite where you would want it. The GSO web interface is probably scriptable, but has always defied my patience.
posted by jimw at 9:45 PM on September 16, 2020

Try PackageRadar
posted by Sharcho at 2:24 PM on September 17, 2020

The URL you see may not have a tracking number, but internally when you fill out the form it appears it would create a URL like this (intentionally not making it a link since the number I picked is completely random):

https://www.gso.com/Tracking?TrackingNumber=195030

You could try that with one of your valid tracking numbers to see if it worked.... then it might be useful
posted by TimHare at 8:53 PM on September 20, 2020