No.

BP-AT-006

Scale

1 : 1

Date

2026-05-25

Rev.

A

Werkstatt 4notify · LogisticsReleased

Blueprint BP-AT-006 of BP-AT-008 · Logistics

SMSEmailWebhook

Österreichische Post, DPD AT and GLS — shipment-tracking webhooks

Normalised tracking states for Post Empfangsbox, self-service stations and home delivery

§ AThe problem

Without normalisation, every carrier brings its own vocabulary: Post says ’Übernahme von Versender', DPD says ’Pickup completed', GLS says ’Inbound at hub’. If the e-commerce platform forwards every status 1:1, the customer sees a patchwork of German, English and mixed terms — often with carrier-specific typos. Outcome: support tickets rise, customers think their parcel is in two different stages at once.

§ BMain view

The Austrian parcel market splits between Österreichische Post (~56%), DPD Austria (~22%), GLS Austria (~12%) and a tail of smaller operators (Hermes, FedEx, UPS). Each maintains its own status codes, its own webhook format and its own pickup-station logic — Post Empfangsbox at home, DPD Pickup stations, GLS ParcelShops. For e-commerce platforms with a mixed carrier base, normalising these statuses is the key lever: customers want consistent wording (’Parcel arrived at hub', ’Out for delivery', ’Ready for pickup in Mariahilf') regardless of carrier. 4notify ingests the raw webhooks, normalises to a canonical status list and fans out to the configured endpoints.

§ CParts list

Channel	Primary provider	Fallback
Post-Webhook	post.at/sendungsverfolgung/webhook	REST API polling (5 min)
DPD-Webhook	DPD MyAccount push	DPD CSV-Export per E-Mail
GLS-Webhook	GLS Track & Trace API	GLS event polling (10 min)
Kanonischer Status-Mapper	4notify Status-Normalizer	Default-Mapping mit Warnung
Kunden-SMS Abholerinnerung	BP-AT-002 SMS-Routing	E-Mail mit Karten-Link

§ DTolerances

Webhook → customer notify

≤ 60seconds

Status mapping coverage

100% canonical + 0.5% unknown

Pickup reminder lead time

48 + 24hours before deadline

Webhook retention

90days (PostmarktG)

Idempotency window

24hours

§ ENormative references

PostmarktG 2025 § 26

Consumers have a right to status transparency for parcel shipments. Carriers must keep the status history retrievable for at least 90 days.

DSGVO Art. 5 (1) (b) — Zweckbindung

Recipient address + phone may only be used for delivery. Marketing reactivation based on tracking events is not permitted without separate consent.

ABGB § 1419 — Annahmeverzug

If the recipient doesn't collect the parcel within the storage period (Post: 14 days, DPD: 7 days, GLS: 7 days) they fall into default of acceptance. Status notifications help avoid that.

§ FBuild steps

Register webhooks with all three carriers

With Post via the business portal post.at/business; with DPD via DPD MyAccount → webhook configuration; with GLS via the Track & Trace back office. Each carrier uses its own auth — Post: HMAC, DPD: Basic Auth, GLS: API key. 4notify abstracts that behind a unified connection config.

Map raw status to canonical vocabulary

The status table: `created`, `picked_up`, `at_origin_hub`, `in_transit`, `at_destination_hub`, `out_for_delivery`, `delivered`, `at_pickup_point`, `picked_up_by_recipient`, `returned`, `lost`. Each carrier raw status maps to one of these eleven canonical values; unknown statuses are logged with a warning and mapped to a default (`in_transit`).

Detect and flag Empfangsbox specifics

Post Empfangsbox = delivered, but to the home Empfangsbox (not to the recipient directly). Status stays `delivered` but an extra field `pickup_location: empfangsbox` is set — so the SMS template can distinguish ’Parcel delivered’ from ’Parcel in Empfangsbox at the door’.

Pickup reminders 48 h + 24 h before storage cutoff

On status `at_pickup_point` a timer is created automatically: first reminder 48 h before the storage cutoff (Post 14, DPD 7, GLS 7 days), second 24 h before. On pickup (status `picked_up_by_recipient`) the timers are cancelled.

§ GTest procedure

Test procedure: (1) Inject a test shipment via Post / DPD / GLS sandbox — three shipment IDs simultaneously. (2) Trigger status changes in the sandbox (pickup → in transit → at hub → out for delivery). (3) On each change, verify customer SMS within 60 seconds, canonical status must be correct. (4) Simulate a pickup-point delivery instead of doorstep — status `at_pickup_point` must arrive, timers for 48 h + 24 h before deadline must be created. (5) Simulate Empfangsbox delivery — status `delivered` with `pickup_location: empfangsbox`, SMS text must contain ’Empfangsbox’.

§ HCode

bash
curl -X POST https://api.4notify.net/v1/shipments/register \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY' \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "carrier': 'post_at",
    "tracking_number': 'AT123456789",
    "recipient_phone': '+436641234567",
    "notify_on": [
      "out_for_delivery",
      "delivered",
      "at_pickup_point",
      "returned"
    ],
    "pickup_reminders_hours_before_deadline": [48, 24],
    "carrier_webhook_signature': 'sha256=…"
  }'

§ ISample message

SMS

Post.at: parcel AT123456789 is waiting at the Post office 1070 Vienna, Mariahilfer Str. 88 until 09.06. for pickup. Bring ID.

§ JCommissioning checklist

Webhooks active with all relevant carriers (Post / DPD / GLS at minimum)
Idempotency key per event implemented (24-hour window against duplicates)
Status mapping table reconciled with each carrier's raw status flow
Empfangsbox detection active in Post webhooks
Pickup reminders configured with the correct storage windows per carrier
Unknown statuses are logged and reported to support@ (no silent fail)

What 4notify does differently

Instead of forwarding carrier statuses 1:1, 4notify normalises to eleven canonical values — and detects Empfangsbox specifics, without which the customer can't tell whether the parcel is in the flat or in the front yard.

§ KFAQ

What if a carrier webhook fails?

4notify falls back to polling (5-10 min interval, depending on carrier) and triggers an ops alarm. Webhooks have 30-day replay capability; once restored, missed events are replayed without duplicates (idempotency key).

How do you handle Hermes / FedEx / UPS?

Adapters exist for FedEx and UPS (API-based webhooks). Hermes Austria currently uses a polling API; we poll every 10 minutes and write events into the same canonical status stream. Status coverage is 100% for Post/DPD/GLS and ~92% for the smaller carriers.

Can we remind customers across multiple delivery addresses?

Yes. If the recipient maintains multiple addresses in their online account (home + office), 4notify can accompany the office shipment with an extra SMS ’Note: shipped to office gate’. The logic boundary: address tagging happens in the e-commerce platform; 4notify just consumes the tag.