UPS’ Follow My Delivery Is No Longer Available

Last updated Thursday, April 6th, 2023

Introduction

You know how exciting it feels tracking your delivery on a map and counting down the minutes till the agent knocks on your door with your package. You can even plan your activities or call someone at home when you get a notification.

That’s what customers could enjoy for many years through UPS’s Follow My Delivery feature.

Someone waiting for an important package or someone living in a home that’s difficult to locate could track when the delivery truck is nearby to guide them.

So it was a rude shock when UPS suddenly decided to discontinue their Follow My Delivery feature.

Customers were confused why would UPS take a step back in their delivery tracking services instead of taking a step forward. It didn’t help that UPS never bothered to come up with a good reason to justify it.

Whether it was for protecting the delivery truck driver’s privacy, saving GPS tracking costs, or some technical issues, it’s all just customer speculation at this point.

However, what’s clear is that discontinuing the Follow My Delivery feature has decreased customer satisfaction and possibly increased UPS delivery truck accidents.

What is Follow My Delivery by UPS?

UPS’s Follow My Delivery live map was a popular feature that allowed customers to track the UPS delivery trucks carrying their package in real-time.

It helped them keep a close eye on their packages and conveniently receive them without disrupting their schedules.

However, there was still no way to predict exactly when your package would be delivered unlike food delivery apps.

Customers could only track the approximate location of the driver. It’s not necessary the truck deliver the package just because it’s passing close to your neighborhood at some point. It could be taking care of delivering packages scheduled before yours.

Why is Follow My Delivery no longer available?

There was no clear explanation given by UPS when they discontinued their Follow My Delivery feature.

Here are three biggest reasons that could’ve contributed to UPS pulling the plug on it:

1. Safety Issues– Delivery truck drivers expressed safety and privacy concerns when it came to broadcasting their exact location throughout the day.Some of them reported running into customers who tried to force them to break rules to get their packages early.They would interrupt drivers during break times, walking into warehouses, or harass them at traffic signals to hand over their packages. UPS was afraid that exposing the exact location of delivery trucks in real-time could make them an easy victim of theft or armed robberies.
   For instance, someone could track exactly when a package is delivered when an owner isn’t at home to steal it from their porch.
2. Poor Customer Interactions – Anticipating exactly when a delivery truck passing by your home is going to deliver your package can be a confusing and frustrating experience.It’s possible the vehicle may pass by your neighborhood a few times in the morning and deliver your package later in the evening.Perhaps it led to an increase in annoyed customers complaining to customer support after using this feature.
3. Tracking Performance Issues – The idea of being able to track exactly where your package is and when you will receive it sounds promising. But the promise was left unfulfilled as customers found out the GPS updates were not pinpoint accurate.It’s possible that it wasn’t worth investing so heavily to maintain or upgrade the GPS support for their Follow My Delivery feature. It’s better to scrap a feature instead of overpromising and underdelivering.

Can customers still track their packages?

UPS continues to provide a transparent and efficient way to track your packages. All you have to do is type in your package tracking number on the UPS website to check the latest shipment progress updates.

The UPS online tracking system will help you with the following services:

• Finding out your package’s whereabouts
• Modifying delivery options
• Getting live customer support
• Filing a claim for damaged or undelivered goods

UPS accidents

UPS truck drivers have intense driving shifts and heavy lifting work loading and unloading packages all day. A physically or mentally draining job like that can push them into making mistakes.

But there’s no room for making mistakes on the road when you’re operating a 30,000-pound truck – because every mistake can cost a life.

According to the FMCSA, there were 2,891 accidents involving UPS trucks. It’s possible that taking away the Follow My Delivery feature could’ve led to an increase in UPS truck accidents.

Since delivery truck drivers aren’t using its regularly updated GPS tracking, they may be making more mistakes trying to accurately locate customers.

However, UPS knows it can’t afford to take safety lightly when the consequences can be so dangerous. So it has developed a Comprehensive Health and Safety Process (CHSP) program to educate and support all its employees to put safety first at every step.

It also empowered its delivery fleet with plenty of sensors and algorithms through its On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation system (ORION).

ORION allows UPS drivers to use the most efficient route for delivering packages to their customers.