You Can Now Use Gmail to Track Your Holiday Packages
Holiday shopping quickly becomes unbearable, and keeping track of multiple incoming purchases doesn’t help. You end up constantly digging through your inbox for shipping confirmations to check ETAs and shipping, and the more you buy, the worse it gets. But if you use Gmail, Google wants to help.
In a November 2 blog post , Google announced that it would begin rolling out a new Gmail feature that would help users keep track of multiple delivery confirmations strewn across their inbox. If the item in question has a tracking number, Gmail will show the delivery status right in your inbox as if it were its own email. However, if you open the original delivery confirmation email, you will also see a delivery status card here, so you don’t have to go to the delivery company’s website to see where your package is.
You’ll also see important updates on these cards, including Label Created, Arrive Tomorrow, or Delivered Today.
How to Set Up Delivery Tracking in Gmail
When the feature arrives on your device, Gmail may present you with a card explaining the new feature with a simple “Allow” button that you can use to set it up. If you didn’t receive this card, or if you accidentally declined it, you can enable this feature in your Gmail settings. You can see this card in the screenshot below, as well as the delivery confirmation that Gmail pops up at the top of this demo inbox.
This feature is still under rollout, so it might not be available in your Gmail app yet. Keep an eye on this card as well as your Gmail settings to set it up as soon as possible.
While it won’t be available in this initial release, Google is developing another useful package tracking feature. In the “coming months”, packages that have been delayed will show up with a delay label at the top of your inbox. I hope you’re not surprised when you think something has been in transit all this time, only to find it’s stuck somewhere.