Ethiopost Tracking. Free & Online.

Ethiopost runs ethio.post, whose Track menu offers Domestic, the tracker TrackParcel reads, and International, a link to the UPU's Global Track and Trace that TrackParcel does not use. Its site lists EMS, registered and ordinary letters, parcel post and post boxes, with separate pages on collecting EMS items and parcels. The domestic tracker says it follows a shipment from the origin office to the destination and adds that Ethiopost sends SMS or e-mail notifications once a shipment is delivered.

Ethiopost's tracker says the shipment ID is on the receipt you receive when you book the shipment. The items TrackParcel's integration recorded were two letters, nine digits and ET, and that is the only shape it sends Ethiopost, after removing spaces, hyphens and a pasted label such as Shipment ID.

A number ending in other letters, a shorter one or two IDs joined by a comma are refused before Ethiopost is asked. Auto-Detect offers Ethiopost for the ET shape, beside other postal carriers. The tracker's Track by Ref Number option is not used, so a reference number cannot be followed here.

For a known ID the tracker shows Item Details, with the Shipment ID, the Origin and the Destination, each a post office followed by the country. Under Item Events, a heading giving the weekday and the full date sits above rows of description, location and a 24-hour time.

TrackParcel reads only those three detail rows and skips any other, such as a recipient row. It dates each event from the heading above it, lists the events newest first, and reads the unzoned times as Ethiopian local time (Africa/Addis_Ababa), shown converted to IST and labelled IST. If the answer names a different Shipment ID, TrackParcel shows an error instead of that history.

For an unknown ID the tracker shows its empty form again with the line Tracking information is not available for the tracking id you have entered. Once TrackParcel has sent an ID, that line is what it reports as not found; an empty form without it, a maintenance page or a refusal shows as temporarily unavailable.

The tracker keeps an item's details for 120 days after delivery, so an older shipment may no longer be found. For a shipment that cannot be tracked, the tracker gives Ethiopost's support e-mail address.

To collect an EMS item or Parcel Mail, Ethiopost asks for an identity document with a copy and the item's tracking number; collecting for someone else needs a power of attorney and its copy. If the confirmation text names no branch, the item is collected from the Main Post Office.

Parcel Mail left uncollected for 10 days after it is ready attracts a storage fee of 0.75 Ethiopian birr a day. For EMS the sender pays the handling fee, while Parcel Mail's handling fee depends on weight and is billed for each package separately.

Ethiopost's tracker page gives a support e-mail address for anyone unable to track a shipment, and the ethio.post menu has a Register Compliant page for complaints. Have the shipment ID and the booking receipt ready, since the receipt is where Ethiopost says the ID is printed.