How to Get Instantly Notified of Package Deliveries (USPS, UPS, FedEx)

Have you ever waited around all day at home for a certain package you just couldn’t wait to get?

And check your front porch or mailbox a hundred times?

Or been a victim of porch pirates who come and steal your packages off your front porch before you get home? Argh!!

Well, I have a way for you to know not just when the package is delivered, but also in advance, so that you can plan for it’s arrival.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I may make a small commission if you choose to make a purchase. Thanks!

First, we’ll discuss some gadgets that might help you, then some free electronic notifications, then finally, some additional solutions in case you can’t be home to receive your packages.

A. Use High Tech Gadgets

You can always use a doorbell like this very popular one and it will notify you when someone has approached your house, whether it be a delivery person, salesman, or the disgusting porch pirate.

Pro tip: Set it at a certain angle that captures images/video well, but doesn’t go off with every car that passes, or every time your door wreath moves.

The more people have to look around for your doorbell, the better shot you will get of their face as look directly at it upon finding it.

And, be kind to your family: Turn the audible notification on your devices to OFF.

PLEASE don’t let it make a sound with every detection. Please. #notcool

(You can turn it on for one day that you’re expecting delivery and turn it back off once delivered.)

You can also get a whole home system like this one and put it in your window.

My friend used hers to see who hit her mailbox and post it on the neighborhood website, for the unknowing parents of the teenage driver to come apologize and pay for the mailbox.

B. FREE: Get Notified of Deliveries from USPS, UPS, and FedEx

Did you know that each of these three services offers notifications of packages coming to your house?

You can get notified in advance, and even watch the package each step of the way, if you want.

You do have to sign up separately with each service listed here.

1. USPS: How to Use USPS Informed Delivery

This one is probably the coolest, and most reliable. Almost worth the stamp price increase. Almost.

Informed Daily Delivery Digest

According to the USPS.com website, you can:

• Online access – Interact with your incoming mail and packages on the secure, online dashboard. 
• Preview incoming mail – see a scanned picture, (currently grayscale) of incoming letter-type mail pieces
• Track packages – check the status, location, and scheduled delivery date
• Leave delivery instructions – if case there are special delivery circumstances or you won’t be home to accept delivery
• Reschedule – mark a missed package to be redelivered
• Get notifications – get email and text messages regarding packages coming to your location

You can go HERE to sign up for USPS Informed Delivery notifications.

You can sign up for both Text and Email alerts, and I have both and have provided examples of both and their benefits below.

Email notifications from USPS

Here is what the Informed Delivery Daily Digest email looks like:

Pretty cool, right?

And you can see the package I was expecting today under the images.

(Unfortunately, it currently shows as ‘Delivered, Front Door/Porch’, however, it has yet to show up.

And I know it’s not been stolen because we have a small house and I heard the mail person come by, and no one else has been here.

Soooo, we’ll see if it makes it here. This has happened before where it says delivered and it shows up a couple of hours later.. ??)

UPDATE: It was delivered by my neighbor whose house is the same house number, one street over, and she has the same name as me.

How did I know EXACTLY when it was delivered?

I get a text almost as soon as it is scanned by the mailperson.

And, it tells me where she dropped it.

Text Notifications from USPS

While I have this particular number muted, if I were eagerly awaiting a package, I would unmute the conversation so I would hear the text ding as soon as it’s received.

This is what the texts contain:

As you can see, in the first one, I got notification that the shipper had created a label, to tell the postal service that it was going to be dropping something off.

Then, I received a notification of when they expected delivery – very nice to have to plan.

And I got confirmation that it was out for delivery on the day of…

And then confirmation that it had {supposedly} been delivered at my front door/porch. (A few hours later, still looking for it…)

If it’s delivered to the mailbox instead of front door/porch as above, it will say ‘Delivered, In/At Mailbox’.

So if you need to tell someone to pick it up, they will know where to find it.

I can also track the status of the package all the way through.

You’ll notice that the package tracking number is underlined – that means you can click on it and it will take you to the ‘tracking status’ page.

This will show you every location at which the package has been scanned, which is also nice when anticipating a few days out.

2. UPS: Signing Up for UPS My Choice ^®

I will say, this is a convenient service, but it hasn’t always had the most reliable notification service, but it has been sufficient to know what’s going on.

In the past, they haven’t had text messages, so I recently signed up for that service in addition to the emails that I already get, in case an email goes to the junk folder.

Make sure that you confirm the transaction when they send you a confirmation text, just reply YES to their confirmation text and you’ll be signed up.

You can also designate which status updates you want, and whether goes to text, email, or both.

I sign up for just about all of it – what can I say, I like to stay informed.

You can go HERE to sign up for UPS My Choice ^® residential.

If you own a business, you can also track package deliveries here.

3. FedEx: Signing Up for FedEx Delivery Manager ^®

As with the other services, FedEx provides the basic tracking and delivery specification options.

It has not been the most reliable in the past, but has been sufficient.

Currently however, with FedEx, you can only select email or text for each of the different status updates.

I personally prefer texts for ‘day before’ and ‘day of’ notifications, as I’m most likely to see them.

Email is fine for ‘shipping label created’ (aka they’re bringing us something to send you) and notifications several days ahead of time.

Go to this link to sign up for FedEx Delivery Manager.

Other Considerations in Mail Delivery

• When you sign up for these services, and then when you move, you will need to figure out how to disavow an address in each of these systems and possibly transfer it to the new owners.
  • If you’re buying a property, you may need to put in your offer the request/demand to have all of these accounts disavowed from the previous owners and transferred to you.
    • (You’ll have to do research on how to do this. I will update with more info once we finally move, if we can ever find a house.)
• For me personally, I put all of these services in my phone address book, but named them with ‘z ServiceName’.
  • The z will put it at the bottom of your contact list, and that’s how I put all businesses I get texts from.
• I also “mute” the conversations in my text app. On iPhone, it will still show me a number on my text app, but it won’t send a visual nor audio notification, so it doesn’t disturb me
  • I like this because I can see it at my leisure, instead of hearing a sound, thinking that it’s a text I need to respond to.

In conclusion, here again are the links for each service:

• USPS Informed Delivery notifications
• UPS My Choice ^® (residential)
• FedEx Delivery Manager.

If You’re Further Worried About Porch Pirates/Package Thieves

You can also get some very useful and stylish secure package storage drops for your porch, or even your mail curb, like the ones below:

I hope the information I provided helps reduce the stress that comes with expecting a package, especially around Christmas and other high-delivery holidays.

If you found this helpful, or if you have other tips, would you let me know in the comments? I love feedback!

Thanks so much for reading, and God bless!!

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