Every once in awhile, a new website comes along that’s actually needed. Such is the case with Slice. Not only will you want to use Slice, but I’m betting that this company gains a lot of funding as soon as the word gets out. So, what does Slice do? Well, this question is best answered by painting a picture of sorts. Have you ever sent a gift to someone far away? If you have, you know that it’s important to let that person know a gift is about to arrive. This way, the recipient can make sure that they are home (or at the office) when the gift shows up.
The only problem with letting someone know of an impending gift is that you will spoil a gift-giving secret if you tell someone to expect a package. What’s a person to do? Why, use Slice, of course! Slice will send a virtual gift box to your recipient with a tracking note. Once this email notification has been sent, your gift recipient can track a package and make sure that they are home for the package’s arrival. Here are my first impressions of the new Slice site.
Using Slice
First things first, you can find Slice at www.goslice.com. Once you’re on the site, you’ll be asked to sign up for a free account (name, email, password combo required). Then, you will be asked to allow Slice to access your Gmail or Yahoo account. Once that’s done, Slice will look for any purchase you’ve made within the past few months (the site searchers for email receipts). As soon as those receipts are collected, all of your former purchases will show up in your Slice account.
You can then check out your order history or track payments on a very cool virtual map. Slice didn’t pick up the fact that I had ordered a package through Etsy when the site combed through my email receipts. However, Slice did find that I had an Etsy package that is current en route. Were that package not being shipped internationally without a tracking code, Slice would have allowed me to track the package all the way to my doorstep. Here’s the interesting part: when you track a package on the Slice map, you will be given the option to “share a shipment” with a friend.
If you decide to share a shipment, you can enter your friend’s email address, and a small note will be sent to that friend. You can then both track a package that’s heading out on the Slice map. I can see many different applications for the Slice site. Not only is this site ideal for tracking shipments that you send to friends as gifts, but if you ever order goods from a store with a friend, you can both track that order.
The Downside
When I activated Slice and granted access to my email, I expected the service to pick up on all deliveries and purchases. Unfortunately, Slice was not able to find or track one package that I recently ordered. I’m guessing that this site will improve with time, and the idea behind Slice is truly an interesting one.