Shipments Secured by Apple AirTag

Shipping has never been perfect, but especially through COVID and as we [hopefully] look toward a post-pandemic world, shipping companies have been pushed to new limits, and virtually all shipping activity in the world has suffered, including ours.

While FedEx is one of the most reliable carriers around (we’ve had better success with them than any other), we still have the same issues everyone else does when it comes to communication with our carriers and tracking where our packages are when things go wrong. Often, our packages are not actually “lost” and are better described as “misplaced,” since they are usually sitting in a sorting facility somewhere and just did not get properly scanned (some packages, believe it or not, are available for pickup, even, and just aren't marked as such in their system). So when Apple announced AirTags, we saw an opportunity.

Now (in some packages as a test to start), we will be including an AirTag, which, in most cases, should allow us to have relatively frequent updates about a package’s location should we need it. In turn, we’ll be able to tell FedEx or a customer where our package is and, eventually, improve delivery success across the board.

There are a few minor drawbacks to this plan we wanted to address:

  1. Tracking isn’t perfect. This should help improve things, but we will still rely on higher-end 2-day service as standard as well as insurance where necessary.

  2. Privacy. Some may not like the idea of being tracked (i.e. if our kit is with you, technically we’ll know where you are). This is understandable. While we have your address from your order anyway, should you prefer at any time to not have anything on you that is being tracked, we recommend two things:

    1. Bring the camera, and leave the case at home. This way, you won’t be tracked at any location(s) we don’t already know.

    2. In the case, you can find the AirTag, carefully open it, and pop out the battery. If you do this, you must remember to put it all back together properly for the return shipment. The AirTag will be tucked under or in between the foam, but the foam must all be put together with the camera properly to avoid foam damage (foam is not cheap, surprisingly, so we always want to avoid replacements).

  3. Beeping and notifications about being tracked are something that will likely have to be dealt with. Anyone with an iPhone in your household may get notifications about an unknown AirTag in the area. If you notice this, you can simply dismiss the notification and ask not to be notified of this tag in the future. If the AirTag is beeping, it should be infrequent and almost unnoticeable in the closed case. But if it becomes bothersome, please simply remove the battery in the AirTag as discussed above. Again, just be sure to put it all back together for the return shipment.

We are confident this system will help us ensure more reliable delivery to all our customers. Please feel free to provide feedback anytime. Thank you.