Tracking A Shipment To The Dark Side Of The Moon 16. September 2006 Tech Comment (2) Recently, I bought a nice shiny piece of home audio gear on eBay. I bought it from a fellow in the United States, and the next day the item was shipped via UPS. Though I knew it would take a week to get here, I still like to track my packages on the Internet. You might say I'm rather obsessed with tracking packages, actually.So, I get the tracking number and plug it into the UPS site over the next few days and I'm absolutely tickled with the amount of tracking data that UPS supplies. It looks something like this:HARRISBURG, PA, US 11/09/2006 4:02 DEPARTURE SCANHARRISBURG, PA, US 09/09/2006 1:11 ARRIVAL SCANSTAUNTON, VA, US 08/09/2006 20:35 DRIVER HAS BAD HEARTBURN, BUT THE PACKAGE MUST BE DELIVERED - BACK ON THE ROADSTAUNTON, VA, US 08/09/2006 20:55 DRIVER STOPPED FOR LATE SUPPERROANOKE, VA, US 08/09/2006 20:16 DEPARTURE SCANROANOKE, VA, US 08/09/2006 19:53 ARRIVAL SCANCHARLOTTE, NC, US 08/09/2006 17:53 DRIVER FEELING MUCH BETTER - BACK ON THE ROADCHARLOTTE, NC, US 08/09/2006 17:47 DRIVER STOPPED FOR BATHROOM BREAKWEST COLUMBIA, SC, US 08/09/2006 15:07 DEPARTURE SCANWEST COLUMBIA, SC, US 08/09/2006 12:28 ARRIVAL SCANATLANTA, GA, US 08/09/2006 8:20 DEPARTURE SCANATLANTA, GA, US 08/09/2006 3:11 ARRIVAL SCANAn amazing amount of detail to be sure. But, when the package finally crosses the border into Canada, the flow of information abrubtly halts. On the evening of the12th, the package is listed as IMPORT SCAN in Lachine, Quebec. There is absolutely NO activity on the 13th. Nothing. Not a peep. I get ready for work on the morning of the 14th and check again - still nothing. My package has been MIA for two days now. A delivery attempt is made around 4:00 PM on the 14th actually, though I'm not home. I'm able to pick it up later that evening, however.So, what exactly is it about Canada that causes so much trouble for shipment tracking systems? It's like the package has gone to the dark side of the moon and all communications are blocked. It's not just UPS. When I order stuff from Vancouver (clear across the continent) using another shipping company, I get exactly TWO tracking notices - one that it was picked up, and one that it was delivered a week later. Some tracking system.It would seem as though there is still some work to be done on shipment tracking north of the border.