How to track parcels

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Let's talk about another much discussed topic in our Telegram group, how to track parcels with applications Open source? There are valid alternatives for keeping track of the packages or letters we are waiting for.

Clearly the most obvious solution is to go to the individual sites of the various companies that offer parcel tracking. This solution has no particular disadvantages, other than having to physically go to different sites which can often be slow and frustrating to use. Also have an application or in any case a place where you can check multiple packages at the same time without opening the Browsers it can be convenient especially if you are on a smartphone.

For obvious reasons we didn't actually find much although something did come up in our research. If you know of other solutions, as always, let us know!

LibreTrack

Open source

It is perhaps the only application Open source such. It is an application that allows you to track packages coming from Russian post, the American one (USPS) but most of all UPS. We report it in the hope that, over time, many other accounts will be added such as that of Poste Italiane.

TrackBot

Telegram bots

There really is now a Telegram bot for any operation. TrackBot allows you to search among many couriers including the most famous ones such as BRT, Nexive And SDA. The problem with Telegram bots is that you don't know who's running it, why they're running it, or what they'll do with the data they collect. By nature, in fact, Telegram bots can collect a lot of data (but not sensitive data such as a telephone number) and obviously can potentially keep track of everything you write without it being possible to know. So in terms of privacy and security they are not exactly the best. However, carefully evaluate its use and whether you think it is for you this is the address to get it started.

Update 03/03/2023: we received an email from one of the TrackBot developers and we are pleased to share part of it with you:

Why and who runs the bot? A small group of friends who run it, despite it being a demanding job, because it is useful to 50 thousand users every month.
What do we do with the data collected? Nothing, they are sometimes useful as a history to make some statistics but they are not given to third parties or used for other purposes. We can only collect the name chosen by the user in the Telegram settings and the related username, we do not have access to other information. The name of the shipment is optional so if you want more privacy simply do not assign a name to the shipments. The messages received by the bot are kept for a few months for support purposes and then deleted.

The bot is not Open source simply because we use a lot of workarounds and various techniques to scrape couriers without being blocked, and put everything Open source it is potentially risky, both because it is a legal gray area and because it could undermine the work.

That's all? Well yes. We didn't find anything else! Or at least, we know of the existence of sites like 17track or Global Package Tracking but they are full of advertisements and tracers. If you use them, stuff yourself with AdBlock.

We are therefore waiting for your suggestions to expand this article which we hope will still be useful to you.

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