DHL sharing waybill

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freitasm

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Geekzone

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#304660 25-May-2023 07:59

I am expecting something from Singapore. This is in the DHL FAQ:

"When I track my international DHL Express shipments, why do I sometimes get information for a shipment that is not going to the intended destination?

DHL periodically recycles shipment waybill numbers for operational reasons. Occasionally this results in information in our system for two shipments travelling under the same waybill number at the same time. DHL is working hard to eliminate these occurrences. In the meantime, please be assured that while this information may be confusing, your physical shipment will be heading to its correct destination and receiving the same careful attention as every other shipment in our network."

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3079525 25-May-2023 08:28

They've been working hard to eliminate this for years.

You'd think with 10 digits, collisions would be rare enough not to need that notice. It could be due to decentralised assignment of tracking codes or pre-printed envelopes/boxes that users hold on to for years before using them.

Behodar

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#3079548 25-May-2023 09:39

How often do people manually type these in? You'd think they could just use GUIDs and be done with it.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3079549 25-May-2023 09:44

Behodar:

How often do people manually type these in? You'd think they could just use GUIDs and be done with it.

Surprisingly often. I've had a few occasions where I've had to manually enter tracking information because I've been sent scanned copies of documents.

Having a barcode scanner permanently attached to my PC comes in handy.

Shaddow798

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#3079560 25-May-2023 10:22

Behodar:

How often do people manually type these in? You'd think they could just use GUIDs and be done with it.

Even instead of making it a 10 digit number, make it like a 16 charector base 64 string, youtube hasn't ran out of urls yet and they only use 11.