When to Switch Book Fulfillment Partners

Every warehouse has a bad week now and then. When the same problems keep landing on the same titles and your partner can't fix them, it's time to look elsewhere.

It's time to switch book fulfillment partners when problems like these keep coming back:

more damaged copies and returns on the same titles
launch and pre-order dates that slip
special editions handled like any other stock
freight bills that run higher than they should
no way to see your own orders and inventory

A single miss can happen at any warehouse. A problem that repeats after you've raised it, and that your current partner can't fix, is the reason to move.

By The Fulfillment.com team

Bad luck or bad fit

A bad week, or a partner you've outgrown?

Carriers run late, storms close roads, and now and then a count comes out wrong. That happens at every 3PL. Leave over one incident and you swap a problem you know for one you don't, and you pay for a move you didn't need.

Watch for the same thing going wrong on the same titles. Then ask whether your partner can say what it will change, and whether the fix holds. With books, the trouble tends to show up in the same few places, from the mailer to the launch week to the reports you get. Once one of them starts repeating, it has stopped being bad luck.