One item purchased, Ten emails

I actually really enjoy getting this sequence of emails but I use Gmail’s auto categorization so it just goes in the “Updates” folder and gets auto-forwarded to my claw-like so it’s not super interrupty. I prefer to have the full trace on my side rather than on the provider side because their site might go down and so on.

I can see why people get annoyed. It’s just the alternative that I really dislike.

This way I can do all analysis on my own side or search for status on my side. I prefer to own the data and have it pushed in a timely manner.

I documented the 13+ emails I received over the course of trying to buy a wallet: https://jfloren.net/b/2022/12/12/0

Everybody just assumes they're the only thing hitting your inbox, like I don't also have "engagement" messages from 3 other stores I bought shit from two years back, plus PG&E trying to convince me to install a meter that can turn off my A/C remotely, plus Nextdoor trying to update me because somebody thinks they heard a gunshot...

In contrast I’m a fan of the overeager messages for actual updates like these presented.

It is just when after said delivery that I then end up on a mailing list where I get sent something seemingly daily from a single vendor that I’m less pleased.

All I need when I buy something online is the shipping tracking number. That's it. I don't need an invoice. What am I going to do with that, print it out and stare at it? I don't need constant tracking updates. I can get these myself with the tracking number. I don't need to know it was delivered (again, tracking number, and I can also just look on the porch with my eyeballs). I don't need any of the other sales-spam that always seems to accompany these orders. An online merchant shouldn't even need my E-mail address. I should be able to click "buy" and the next page shows me the tracking number. That's the only relationship I want with you!

Only one "are you happy with your purchase?" follow-up email? He should count himself lucky...

Just emails? I get all that plus half a dozen text messages.

I've internalized the delete shortcut in gmail and configured one of the swipe directions in the app to be delete. For a long time, I archived every email, but there's so much crap like this now to wade through.

I also discovered that a busy local mailing list was sending images as attachments that counted against my quota, so even more incentive to delete instead of archive.

I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and masked addresses.

Since virtually everything now requires creating an account (thanks marketers, bots, AI agents), I always use throwaway emails + privacy tools.

Never give out your email. Just hand out proxy addresses. Have a couple in your wallet\phone casing for when you need to give one right away without time to generate it.

No spam. Or if you get some, one click to stop receiving mail from a specific proxy.

Takes some using to, and some work each time you give out an email address. But so does sifting through a ton of spam, because you didn't care enough to only give out a proxy address.

Apple hide my email was a great solution to this, I feel like we need a proper open source alternative. Basically a relay inbox that is ephemeral and you can discard once you’re done.

I feel like the author is overly cynical here. You get so many updates because there's so much information available about your delivery, and I for one appreciate having it! I wish there was as standardized format so my e-mail client could just roll it all up into one status box but it's hardly the end of the world.

Actually, four emails, not ten. Author writes as if it’s some conspiracy of sellers and shipping companies to maximise the number of emails. Each sends with any excuse they have. The email is treated as a drop box of transactional notes that business sends to customers inbox so customer can always find that info if they would have a need. It’s not frivolous sending that we need to fix but some standard of “receipt” folders, like Gmail auto folders in half-assed way. So these emails bypass inbox directly to special folder. And it should have a standard name so customer service can say “look in your Receipts folder”.

And Two “We received your order” is unnecessary, as well as “create account”. But if they send those it must be working? Or they send even is only handful of people click on them?

You'd love AliExpress. There's probably 20-25 emails per order as there are so many tracking steps. But I like it, just automatically move them to a folder.

Is there a technical limitation why these never seem to be grouped into a thread? I generally appreciate the updates on my package, but I also value a tidy inbox.

i am no fan of spam. but i am totally fine (and expect, really) to receive email #s 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 on this 10 point list.

- 1 confirms my order was received, and im not left thinking i ordered something when it wasnt processed.

- 3, 4, 6, 7 are all good for ensuring my order didnt get lost in the process and lets me schedule my day if needed.

- proof of delivery (8) is good for records, disputes, or just knowing that i should pop over to my house on lunch so the item isnt sitting outside all day.

however, i do use my own domain and unique addresses per store (e.g. "walmart@example.com" if i need a walmart account for whatever reason), so that if/when companies start doing the "we miss you", "please rate us", "seriously, please rate us, you havent yet :(" or whatever, i can immediately bin it.

catchall is also super convenient for automatically organizing emails. anything with a "to" address of "walmart@example.com" goes straight into the "walmart" folder.

This is convenient tracking. Worse is the daily marketing you never opted into.

Ugh... same feelings here... looking at you, eBay.

Maybe for you it’s a problem, I personally know people that if they don’t get these emails they start calling support services to know where’s the order or what’s the update.

These actually don't bother me so much.

What bothers me is when I give an email at a store for receipt or refund purposes, and they take that as an opt-in to multiple marketing emails per week. And removing myself from the list often takes multiple attempts at "unsubscribe".

If I don't explicitly opt-in to marketing, I should never get marketing. Ahem, Microcenter.

Having proxy addresses is nice. But I can't just kill an alias if I'm using the email for refunds, or if I use the service multiple times. Also don't want to generate and read off alias emails when I'm at a cash register.

Wait until you see the tracking data that led to your purchase.

Hum... Except for the 2 emails asking for feedback, I don't see any problem with that.

Do you get overwhelmed by emails tracking items you brought? You expect stores not to communicate with you about active contracts you've already paid for and have actions pending from their part? Why exactly do you think that's a problem?