[HN Gopher] One item purchased, ten emails
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       One item purchased, ten emails
        
       Author : speckx
       Score  : 105 points
       Date   : 2026-04-08 18:13 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (joshghent.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (joshghent.com)
        
       | floren wrote:
       | I documented the 13+ emails I received over the course of trying
       | to buy a wallet: https://jfloren.net/b/2022/12/12/0
       | 
       | Everybody just assumes they're the only thing hitting your inbox,
       | like I don't also have "engagement" messages from 3 other stores
       | I bought shit from two years back, plus PG&E trying to convince
       | me to install a meter that can turn off my A/C remotely, plus
       | Nextdoor trying to update me because somebody thinks they heard a
       | gunshot...
        
         | rjh29 wrote:
         | > Everybody just assumes they're the only thing hitting your
         | inbox
         | 
         | They know your inbox has 100s of competing senders and their
         | message could get lost, that's why they spam. A large number of
         | people don't curate their inbox, never unsubscribe and just
         | make do reading 20% of their messages.
         | 
         | Same with phone notifications.
        
           | Yokohiii wrote:
           | without email spam, there wasn't any reason to curate a
           | mailbox.
        
           | username223 wrote:
           | Don't unsubscribe - that's a signal of a live email address.
           | Add a rule filing their domain straight to trash.
        
             | cosmotic wrote:
             | My understanding is that this is outdated advice.
        
               | dsr_ wrote:
               | There are definitely some vendors who respect an
               | unsubscribe request, and some who don't. No way to tell
               | ahead of time.
               | 
               | I won't buy, ever again, from someone who doesn't respect
               | the unsub request.
        
             | rjh29 wrote:
             | In the UK there are legal guarantees, the unsubscribe
             | button nearly always works.
        
           | burningChrome wrote:
           | Texting is the new email. I have about a half dozen or more
           | email addresses and very few of them get used nowadays.
           | 
           | The funny thing is I just moved all my email over to Fairmail
           | and did several other things to try and "degoogle" my life.
           | The funny thing was as soon as I got Fairmail installed, I
           | finally realized how much spam was hitting even my gmail
           | inboxes, but since gmail and outlook both filter them into
           | separate folders, I never saw them. Fairmail has the
           | _ability_ to do the same, but it was really good for me to go
           | through and unsubscribe and block the rest.
           | 
           | Now I barely get any spam from any of my accounts so life is
           | a lot easier now. Another example of how these companies make
           | it easy to not do anything and just have it out of sight.
        
           | pembrook wrote:
           | This, plus the fact if they don't overcommunicate and send
           | you 10 transactional emails (eg. "your order is still on its
           | way!") they'll have people filing credit card disputes and
           | BBB complaints, blasting support screaming _this-site-is-a-
           | scam-where-is-my-order!??_ over a two day shipping delay.
           | 
           | This HN thread reads like a fun Chesterton's fence exercise.
           | 
           | New engineer shows up the first week on the job: "10 emails?
           | You guys are all stupid this only needs to be 3
           | emails...receipt, shipped, and feedback!"
           | 
           | Whole team groans, having to explain yet again the many years
           | of scar tissue behind exactly why every one of the 10 emails
           | exists.
        
         | kshacker wrote:
         | lol neighbor? Gunshots reclassified as car exhaust but there's
         | a video too. Same one from last night?
        
         | ozim wrote:
         | Well I do know - but I am working on B2B SaaS.
         | 
         | I am getting furious when I read advice like "you should spend
         | time to talk to your customers".
         | 
         | It feels like people giving such advice never really did
         | anything in actual marketing/sales. Mostly because single
         | company uses dozen if not more applications, no one gives a
         | flying fuck about your application and if they would spend time
         | giving feedback to each app they use, they won't have time to
         | their job.
         | 
         | Yes you can get customer time - but it is not "just talk to the
         | customers", if you get one having a day or 2 hours or 1 hour
         | you take it or you might never hear from them again or hear
         | from them again in 2 years or maybe 6 months. CUSTOMER TIME IS
         | SOMETHING SUPER SPECIAL not something "maybe you should do
         | that".
         | 
         | So for developers out there -- your sales guy just had a chat
         | with a customer he has another meeting with him in 2 weeks - it
         | is not like he is making up deadline, he needs to show
         | something, anything moving forward to keep the customer hooked
         | and maybe have another meeting with the guy and if has nothing
         | to show it might be back in years or never...
         | 
         | Of course I myself am using shitload of apps and services in my
         | work and I don't give a fuck what they do and don't want them
         | to bother me if I have a subscription, unless they break
         | something then I am going to write an angry e-mail to them (I
         | do understand they might have a problem, as mentioned I am
         | working on B2B SaaS myself) but angry mail works better (maybe
         | not for latest Anthropic Opus).
        
       | dinkleberg wrote:
       | In contrast I'm a fan of the overeager messages for actual
       | updates like these presented.
       | 
       | It is just when after said delivery that I then end up on a
       | mailing list where I get sent something seemingly daily from a
       | single vendor that I'm less pleased.
        
         | floren wrote:
         | I strongly suspect that "Do not send me marketing emails" at
         | checkout time ACTUALLY means "Wait 6 months before sending me
         | marketing emails, when I might plausibly forget that I checked
         | this box", because I always do my best to opt out of mailing
         | lists and I always seem to start getting stuff anyway 6-12
         | months after making a purchase. The Silicon Valley model of
         | consent strikes again.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | They classify it as "transactional" emails (like what is
           | supposed to be order receipts, shipping updates, etc) and so
           | "decide" they can send you an "order update" to an "existing
           | customer with a business relationship" 6 months later,
           | instead of adding you to the spam list immediately.
        
             | rationalist wrote:
             | I just received a marketing email from Dell, and in the
             | footer they claimed it was a transactional message. The
             | last transaction I made with them was 3 years ago!
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | It's insane - I rarely want marketing emails (there are
               | some I do, new products from Saddleback Leather are
               | always interesting) but when I _do_ actually find out
               | about some new product that 's desirable, I find that I
               | _never_ get marketing emails for it, even if I 'm signed
               | up to things you would think would cover it!
               | 
               | Apple knows who I am, what I've bought, and I'm not
               | unsubscribed from all, and yet they've never told me
               | about the Neo, though they did send me an email talking
               | about the event that might have been the one that
               | revealed it.
        
         | scorpionfeet wrote:
         | Same here. Back in 1999 buying something of a yahoo market
         | website was a crapshoot and you didn't know what was going on
         | till you got it. I have no issue with overzealous updates. But
         | after that; go away! I know you exist.
        
         | banannaise wrote:
         | It's honestly one of his worst videos, but Jon Bois has quite
         | thoroughly documented how many mattresses they tried to sell
         | him as a result of him buying a mattress.
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n36R8xlhe1U
        
           | vitaflo wrote:
           | Jon Bois worst video is still better than 99.9% of all
           | videos.
        
       | dazc wrote:
       | Wait until you see the tracking data that led to your purchase.
        
         | addybojangles wrote:
         | Haha truth
        
         | croisillon wrote:
         | oh you've just bought a washing machine, you will now see ads
         | for washing machines during the next 3 months
        
       | marcosdumay wrote:
       | Hum... Except for the 2 emails asking for feedback, I don't see
       | any problem with that.
       | 
       | Do you get overwhelmed by emails tracking items you brought? You
       | expect stores not to communicate with you about active contracts
       | you've already paid for and have actions pending from their part?
       | Why exactly do you think that's a problem?
        
         | gbalduzzi wrote:
         | Because I never engage with them and they clutter my inbox,
         | especially if I make more than one purchase in the same period.
         | 
         | One email, with the receipt and the tracking number is enough
         | for me, everything else is just noise to me.
         | 
         | I totally agree that it is not an important problem: it is a
         | nitpick, but that is why I think it is a problem.
        
       | john_strinlai wrote:
       | i am no fan of spam. but i am totally fine (and expect, really)
       | to receive email #s 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 on this 10 point list.
       | 
       | - 1 confirms my order was received, and im not left thinking i
       | ordered something when it wasnt processed.
       | 
       | - 3, 4, 6, 7 are all good for ensuring my order didnt get lost in
       | the process and lets me schedule my day if needed.
       | 
       | - proof of delivery (8) is good for records, disputes, or just
       | knowing that i should pop over to my house on lunch so the item
       | isnt sitting outside all day.
       | 
       | however, i _do_ use my own domain and unique addresses per store
       | (e.g.  "walmart@example.com" if i need a walmart account for
       | whatever reason), so that if/when companies start doing the "we
       | miss you", "please rate us", "seriously, please rate us, you
       | havent yet :(" or whatever, i can immediately bin it.
       | 
       | catchall is also super convenient for automatically organizing
       | emails. anything with a "to" address of "walmart@example.com"
       | goes straight into the "walmart" folder.
        
         | EdNutting wrote:
         | Same here - almost identical for me.
        
         | swah wrote:
         | Same. Also if one created an account before that order that
         | would be another 3 or 4 emails.
         | 
         | What pisses me the most is getting the same information over
         | Whatsapp too - just a few minutes earlier!
        
       | wafflemaker wrote:
       | Never give out your email. Just hand out proxy addresses. Have a
       | couple in your wallet\phone casing for when you need to give one
       | right away without time to generate it.
       | 
       | No spam. Or if you get some, one click to stop receiving mail
       | from a specific proxy.
       | 
       | Takes some using to, and some work each time you give out an
       | email address. But so does sifting through a ton of spam, because
       | you didn't care enough to only give out a proxy address.
        
         | skinner927 wrote:
         | Edit: egg on my face. The article's author suggested the same
         | service. Heh. Anyways...
         | 
         | I highly recommend a service like SimpleLogin. It allows for
         | dynamic wildcards:
         | 
         | - store1@my.domain - whatever@my.domain - _@my.domain
         | 
         | All gets fwd to my real email and I can kill any address from
         | my email client by unsubscribing (or login to the SimpleLogin
         | interface)
         | 
         | You can go further and use subdomains or pattern matching to
         | send things to different addresses like your spouse and
         | friends. e.g.
         | 
         | - _@friend.my.domain -> friend@gmail.com - *@spouse.my.domain
         | -> babe@example.com
         | 
         | Not affiliated, just really happy with the service
        
         | fishpen0 wrote:
         | I do this. But I hit a wall with shopify. They only allow 5
         | email addresses to be bound to an account and only one account
         | to one phone number. So now I cannot get tracking information
         | from about a dozen online stores that at some point or another
         | switched to shopify after I already made a custom email for
         | them
        
         | fhdkweig wrote:
         | The worst abusers are the ones that mix vital emails with
         | marketing and fluff. In the US you have to deal with the Social
         | Security Administration your entire adult life. You need to
         | deal with them while paying into the program during the working
         | years and also while cashing out in retirement. So you can't
         | just ignore communications with them, but yet most emails are
         | fluff like holiday greetings, reminders not to be scammed
         | (which are repeats of the same advice they gave in all previous
         | emails).
         | 
         | Banks also do this, but they at least use the same subject
         | lines that I can auto-filter.
        
           | Normal_gaussian wrote:
           | I'm in the UK. I have several bank accounts, both personally
           | and for business.
           | 
           | For my four personal accounts my last email was last October,
           | and the one before that was last July.
           | 
           | For my business accounts I have most set to email me a
           | statement every month (automations attached).
        
             | fhdkweig wrote:
             | I wonder if there is some sort of regulation specific to
             | the UK that stops them.
        
         | thoughtpalette wrote:
         | I've been using Proton Mail and iOS (through iCloud+) for this.
         | Almost every purchase online goes through a proxy, and once the
         | item is delivered, the email deleted.
         | 
         | This has a side benefit of being able to sign up to the popup
         | modals for like, 10-20% off a first purchase.
         | 
         | Some sites do not parse the emails correctly though (if they
         | contain periods, etc) and it's also hard to order track.
         | 
         | I find it's worth the trouble to have a relatively quiet inbox.
        
         | themafia wrote:
         | I use a wildcard proxy. Like msg-BUSINESS@example.com. Each
         | business gets it's own alias. I can just generate them at the
         | point of sale without any prior configuration.
         | 
         | If a particular business annoys me it's quite easy to start
         | managing their emails separately.
         | 
         | Incredibly useful for when a company gets acquired and their
         | old transactional email database is turned into a marketing
         | database.
        
       | opengrass wrote:
       | This is convenient tracking. Worse is the daily marketing you
       | never opted into.
        
       | wffurr wrote:
       | I've internalized the delete shortcut in gmail and configured one
       | of the swipe directions in the app to be delete. For a long time,
       | I archived every email, but there's so much crap like this now to
       | wade through.
       | 
       | I also discovered that a busy local mailing list was sending
       | images as attachments that counted against my quota, so even more
       | incentive to delete instead of archive.
        
       | moepstar wrote:
       | Ugh... same feelings here... looking at you, eBay.
        
       | wakamoleguy wrote:
       | Is there a technical limitation why these never seem to be
       | grouped into a thread? I generally appreciate the updates on my
       | package, but I also value a tidy inbox.
        
         | Yokohiii wrote:
         | Which mailing frontend for normies has threaded views?
        
           | simonreiff wrote:
           | Gmail (at least in Google Workspace) and Outlook 365 both do
           | threaded emails.
        
         | gib444 wrote:
         | Companies too lazy or unwilling to set a thread id.
        
       | ryandrake wrote:
       | All I need when I buy something online is the shipping tracking
       | number. That's it. I don't need an invoice. What am I going to do
       | with that, print it out and stare at it? I don't need constant
       | tracking updates. I can get these myself with the tracking
       | number. I don't need to know it was delivered (again, tracking
       | number, and I can also just look on the porch with my eyeballs).
       | I don't need any of the other sales-spam that always seems to
       | accompany these orders. An online merchant shouldn't even need my
       | E-mail address. I should be able to click "buy" and the next page
       | shows me the tracking number. _That 's the only relationship I
       | want with you!_
        
         | elliotec wrote:
         | An invoice/receipt is often necessary for booking purposes,
         | reimbursements, taxes, etc. But to your point, just put it in
         | the same email as the tracking number and move on.
        
       | sva_ wrote:
       | You'd love AliExpress. There's probably 20-25 emails per order as
       | there are so many tracking steps. But I like it, just
       | automatically move them to a folder.
        
         | smcameron wrote:
         | Not to mention the endless stream of marketing emails you'll
         | get forever after.
        
       | hereme888 wrote:
       | I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and
       | masked addresses.
       | 
       | Since virtually everything now requires creating an account
       | (thanks marketers, bots, AI agents), I always use throwaway
       | emails + privacy tools.
        
       | unethical_ban wrote:
       | These actually don't bother me so much.
       | 
       | What bothers me is when I give an email at a store for receipt or
       | refund purposes, and they take that as an opt-in to multiple
       | marketing emails per week. And removing myself from the list
       | often takes multiple attempts at "unsubscribe".
       | 
       | If I don't explicitly opt-in to marketing, I should never get
       | marketing. Ahem, Microcenter.
       | 
       | Having proxy addresses is nice. But I can't just kill an alias if
       | I'm using the email for refunds, or if I use the service multiple
       | times. Also don't want to generate and read off alias emails when
       | I'm at a cash register.
        
       | tamimio wrote:
       | Maybe for you it's a problem, I personally know people that if
       | they don't get these emails they start calling support services
       | to know where's the order or what's the update.
        
       | hmokiguess wrote:
       | Apple hide my email was a great solution to this, I feel like we
       | need a proper open source alternative. Basically a relay inbox
       | that is ephemeral and you can discard once you're done.
        
       | arjie wrote:
       | I actually really enjoy getting this sequence of emails but I use
       | Gmail's auto categorization so it just goes in the "Updates"
       | folder and gets auto-forwarded to my claw-like so it's not super
       | interrupty. I prefer to have the full trace on my side rather
       | than on the provider side because their site might go down and so
       | on.
       | 
       | I can see why people get annoyed. It's just the alternative that
       | I really dislike.
       | 
       | This way I can do all analysis on my own side or search for
       | status on my side. I prefer to own the data and have it pushed in
       | a timely manner.
        
       | dostick wrote:
       | Actually, four emails, not ten. Author writes as if it's some
       | conspiracy of sellers and shipping companies to maximise the
       | number of emails. Each sends with any excuse they have. The email
       | is treated as a drop box of transactional notes that business
       | sends to customers inbox so customer can always find that info if
       | they would have a need. It's not frivolous sending that we need
       | to fix but some standard of "receipt" folders, like Gmail auto
       | folders in half-assed way. So these emails bypass inbox directly
       | to special folder. And it should have a standard name so customer
       | service can say "look in your Receipts folder".
       | 
       | And Two "We received your order" is unnecessary, as well as
       | "create account". But if they send those it must be working? Or
       | they send even is only handful of people click on them?
        
       | SoftTalker wrote:
       | Just emails? I get all that plus half a dozen text messages.
        
         | evulhotdog wrote:
         | STOP
        
           | variaga wrote:
           | Permanently block this number? _[yes]_ [no]
        
       | fmajid wrote:
       | Only one "are you happy with your purchase?" follow-up email? He
       | should count himself lucky...
        
       | afavour wrote:
       | I feel like the author is overly cynical here. You get so many
       | updates because there's so much information available about your
       | delivery, and I for one appreciate having it! I wish there was as
       | standardized format so my e-mail client could just roll it all up
       | into one status box but it's hardly the end of the world.
        
       | BeetleB wrote:
       | I hate the "Give feedback"/"Review the item you bought ..."
       | emails.
       | 
       | I'm sitting here, fantasizing creating an automation where
       | whenever one of these hits my inbox, I'll have an LLM agent go to
       | the page and give the most negative feedback it can muster.
        
       | pacman1337 wrote:
       | pretty soon we won't be reading books or emails. We have have AI
       | filters. Maybe we won't even be reading our friends or partners
       | message either, mostly fluff anyways?
        
       | patwolf wrote:
       | I gave up on inbox zero a long time ago, so it isn't the emails
       | themselves that bother me as much as the notifications that I get
       | through my phone and smartwatch.
       | 
       | I now run each notification through an LLM and give it
       | instructions on what to filter out. I accidentally disabled it
       | recently and was startled at the flood of notifications--like
       | when you browse the internet without an ad blocker and forget how
       | bad it is.
        
       | garciansmith wrote:
       | This actually misses some, namely the "your order is out for
       | delivery" email which precedes the "your order is delivered one".
       | And some places might split up the delivery into parts so you get
       | even more despite being delivered together (in some cases in the
       | same box!).
       | 
       | Worse is if they require a phone number then text you each and
       | every step as well as email you. Some places you can "opt out" of
       | texting but then the next order will just repeat the process.
       | 
       | All I want is an order confirmed email, and an order shipped
       | email with the tracking number. I get maybe some people want a
       | "delivered" email but I don't even want that, I'll see it, it can
       | sit there an hour it's ok; if it's something really important
       | I'll be looking at the tracking anyhow.
       | 
       | And while I'm complaining, it sure would be great to get rid of
       | the syrupy language some use: "Get excited!!! Your order is being
       | packed!!!!" Yes, I am glad I will receive a bunch of paper
       | towels, but it is, I can assure you, not exciting.
       | 
       | P.S. edit: I just got two emails a few minutes ago (both for the
       | same single order) stating that my order was on the way and would
       | arrive... in twenty minutes. Which I think is a new one, I don't
       | think I've gotten an "your order is less than half hour away"
       | email before.
        
         | rsync wrote:
         | Almost all order flows (like shoply, for instance) have phone
         | number as a required field... But they do no validation.
         | 
         | You can just enter a fake prefix+number with plausible NPA.
         | 
         | You should use a fake prefix because you don't want some poor
         | random person getting your delivery updates...
        
       | SunshineTheCat wrote:
       | Doordash has become better, but they use to do the same thing
       | with notifications:
       | 
       | Your order has been placed! > Your order is being prepared! > Bob
       | is on route to pick up your order! Bob is waiting for your order!
       | Message from Bob: I'm waiting for your order! > Your order has
       | been picked up! > Message from Bob: I'm on my way! > Your order
       | is approaching! > Your order has arrived! > Your order was
       | dropped off! > Please rate your dasher! > etc etc etc
       | 
       | The only reason I never completely turned off notifications was
       | because there was one I actually needed: my order was dropped
       | off...
        
         | bluefirebrand wrote:
         | > The only reason I never completely turned off notifications
         | was because there was one I actually needed: my order was
         | dropped off...
         | 
         | And of course there's no way to manage your notifications
         | granularly to only get the ones that you actually want and
         | filter the rest
         | 
         | Companies want to publish marketing about how they empower
         | users but they absolutely do not actually want to empower users
         | if they can help it
        
           | ishtanbul wrote:
           | Your notifications about your orders are bundled with their
           | marketing notifications (on iphone at least). So if you dont
           | want ads, you have to turn off order updates too
        
       | gubo97000 wrote:
       | problem that would be solved if clients were a little better at
       | grouping emails
        
       | CrzyLngPwd wrote:
       | The trustpilot begging emails are the worst IMO. I didn't agree
       | to TP having my email address, so why are they contacting
       | me...again and again and again???
        
       | miki123211 wrote:
       | Poland is _always_ like this, for  "good" reasons. The American
       | shopping experience is a breath of fresh air in comparison.
       | 
       | Our workflow is often something like this:
       | 
       | 1. "Verify your account" (before you buy).
       | 
       | 2. Order has been accepted.
       | 
       | 3. [From the payment gateway, we typically don't do credit cards
       | for online transactions]: Payment required.
       | 
       | 4. [Your bank, via a push notification]: Please confirm this
       | transaction, typical EU overregulation 3D Secure crap.
       | 
       | 5. [Your bank, Push]: Card payment.
       | 
       | 6. [Payment gateway, after you're redirected to their site and
       | complete payment] Payment succeeded.
       | 
       | 7. [Store]: We have received your payment.
       | 
       | 8. [Store, one business day later]: Here's the invoice you
       | requested. Spoiler, no invoice was actually requested.
       | 
       | 9. [Store]: Here's the tracking number for your parcel.
       | 
       | 10. [Parcel Delivery app, you practically need one to open parcel
       | lockers, our favorite method for getting almost anything, if you
       | don't want to deal with the hassle of SMS]: Your parcel has been
       | registered.
       | 
       | 10. [Parcel app]: Your parcel is on the way.
       | 
       | 11. [Parcel app] Your parcel is ready for collection.
       | 
       | 12. [Store]: Your package has been delivered.
       | 
       | Most of these are no-opt-out.
       | 
       | That list doesn't include any marketing, "how did you like your
       | Order" or "Please review this Seller" emails. If there's another
       | intermediary in the mix, like Allegro (our local Amazon / eBay
       | alternative that most people order from), there can sometimes be
       | a bunch more.
        
         | medvidek wrote:
         | Interesting how you need a separate app to open parcel lockers
         | in Poland. In the Czech Republic the locker provider just sends
         | you an email/SMS (as a part of the "ready for collection"
         | message) with a code that you type on the locker's keyboard,
         | which is sometimes physical, sometimes a touch screen, and the
         | locker opens, no app needed.
        
           | szatkus wrote:
           | I don't use the app (I guess it's about InPost). I usually
           | just scan a QR code that I recieve to my inbox. Code from SMS
           | also works just fine.
        
       | plorg wrote:
       | I'm particularly fond of the senders who know there are nominally
       | laws about spam, so they just label every piece of marketing and
       | customer retention garbage as pertaining to your user account, or
       | they layer some subscription-related language over a promotion al
       | email. I uploaded photos to a printing service over a decade ago
       | and long since unsubscribed from their marketing lists. Two
       | months ago they started sending me bi-weekly "reminders" that my
       | old photos would be purged soon but offering me a discount
       | subscription to their cloud storage. They then sent me at least
       | three weekly reminders. The thing is, none of the links in the
       | email would send me to the page to download old information
       | (which it turns out I had already done years ago, presumably on
       | prompt of some other spam) or information on deleting that
       | content myself.
       | 
       | The other classic of the genre is mailing list software that
       | stores opt-out preferences separate of customer account data such
       | that when they move to a different marketing service or their
       | retention policy tolls out you start getting spam again, exactly
       | 5 years after you opted out.
        
         | Esophagus4 wrote:
         | That is likely a violation of CAN-SPAM.
         | 
         | Dual purpose emails (transactional + advertising) are generally
         | still considered as commercial and are usually covered.
         | 
         | It would have to be enforced, but still.
         | 
         | Sometimes for those I just log in and switch my email to some
         | throwaway or I setup a rule in my inbox to immediately junk it.
        
       | a3w wrote:
       | Machines write emails, people don't.
       | 
       | So it is just "mark as read" every day or week, and move on
       | skimming mail senders, and rarely any headings, and nearly never
       | message bodies.
       | 
       | Or for such a company, make a filter and clear out the subfolder
       | every half year or when check only there is an issue with an
       | order.
        
       | aorth wrote:
       | I highly recommend using an email alias service. The author
       | mentions SimpleLogin. I've been using Firefox Relay for a few
       | years and it's great!
        
       | NotGMan wrote:
       | Another reason for this is for the seller to protect themselves
       | and give themselves proof against scumbag customers who then lie
       | to get the product for free etc...
       | 
       | The more emails and info you can demonstrate that you sent to the
       | customer the more proof you have in case they try to scam you.
        
       | mrock wrote:
       | For most of ecom you lose money acquiring a customer, and can
       | only hope to break even by emailing them and going for repeat
       | purchases.
       | 
       | A few ecom folks manage to acquire customers without losing
       | money.
       | 
       | Typically it's via a "welcome kit" that costs $150+ to cover ads.
        
       | gib444 wrote:
       | [delayed]
        
       | dlcarrier wrote:
       | Assuming the message actually contains information, and not a
       | login link, lots of email updates is great. It means I
       | automatically get a local copy of the message stored, so if I
       | want to look it up, I have it immediately available, regardless
       | of my current network connectivity.
       | 
       | I use Gmail's support for aliases, by putting a '+' symbol after
       | my user name, followed by a alias, so that the messages can be
       | easily filtered. I then add the alias to Gmail's server-side
       | filtering to move the message to an IMAP folder for messages from
       | vendors/distributors.
        
         | unfitted2545 wrote:
         | I love the combination of Posteo and Bitwarden. Any email I use
         | has a "+random letters and numbers" generated for that entry to
         | combat spam. If I need better privacy separation, I have my
         | main email with my name, then an alias with random letters and
         | numbers.
        
       | Night_Thastus wrote:
       | I make a habit of training the spam filter to catch all the non-
       | important emails produced on a purchase.
       | 
       | Tracking link for shipment? Thank you!
       | 
       | Random email about how to 'best use' my purchase (advertise other
       | products) - instant spam flag.
       | 
       | This has worked quite well, though occasionally the filter gets
       | it wrong.
        
       | ge96 wrote:
       | Friend of mine told me they bought some music-related item and
       | they got several emails but also an AI generated video of the CEO
       | or something like that personally thanking them for their
       | purchase. Super weird.
       | 
       | The video said something along the lines of "Hey {name} I am the
       | CEO... I want to personally thank you for your purchase".
       | 
       | I can't remember if they bought whatever it is from Instagram
       | through an ad on there so a super social/ad heavy space anyway.
        
       | iamwpj wrote:
       | I'll just suggest -- I don't think they have A/B tested the right
       | amount of emails. There was a time when companies optimized this
       | sort of stuff, but the cost of researching that vs. just sending
       | every opportunistic email possible is too great. This doesn't
       | really matter except that we give companies too much credit for
       | stuff like this. They're just kind of...doing stuff, for better
       | or worse.
        
       | bigbuppo wrote:
       | It's better than it was back in the 90s. Imagine that, but as
       | physical mail. Oh, and they sent a separate copy to your billing
       | contact, which was at the same address, and was also you.
        
       | jasonpeacock wrote:
       | Just wait until you _don't_ buy something...
       | 
       | Throw some items in your cart and enjoy all the emails reminding
       | you to check out, look at similar items, share with your friends,
       | and use discounts before they expire!
        
       | linsomniac wrote:
       | I just ordered a dishwasher from Lowes, and that translated to 16
       | text messages from them, including asking if my address was
       | correct, asking 3 times if the delivery date worked for me. I
       | appreciated 2 of them: Your delivery window is 9:30-1:30, you are
       | stop 7, the driver just finished the delivery before you and is
       | headed your way.
       | 
       | There's a right number of times to text me about a delivery that
       | is going exactly as planned, and 16 is not that number.
        
       | daft_pink wrote:
       | The issue is that I want to see the email that says my order
       | shipped so I can drop the tracking number into parcel.
        
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