Penguin Random House is offering enhanced two-day shipping for independent booksellers starting October 1 and running through March 1, 2022. Of particular note, the company is waiving the minimum-retail-value requirement for orders.
The program covers frontlist and backlist titles from all PRH's divisions as well as all the clients of Penguin Random House Publisher Services.
The enhanced service also comes as concerns over possible supply chain disruptions grow, something alluded to in a statement from Jaci Updike, president. U.S. sales, for PRH: “While we can’t 100% predict what the supply chain will look like in the fourth quarter this year, we do know that rapid replenishment is a key element of profitability and success at the all-important holiday season, and as always, we want to step up our efforts to get books into stores as quickly as possible. Some things are out of our control – including the unprecedented challenges the shipping companies are facing – but the PRH team is committed to going above-and-beyond to pick and pack indie orders with full speed,” Updike said. “The elimination of minimums will help booksellers become even more responsive to what their customers are looking for. We want to make it as easy as possible for booksellers to build reorders.”
Under the program, weather and transport conditions permitting, PRH said it will expedite the picking and packing of orders received from indie booksellers at its Westminster, Md; Crawfordsville, Ind.; and Reno, Nev. operations centers for its Penguin Random House-affiliated publishers’ physical-format titles, and schedule transit “from our dock to the bookseller’s door” to arrive in two days or less.
