Publishers Offer Rapid Replenishment Programs

Several major publishers are once again offering expedited shipping to indie bookstores this holiday season and, in some cases, beyond. Here’s a look at previously announced programs from Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster.

Hachette Book Group

Through Hachette’s rapid replenishment program, available all year to independent retailers in good standing within the continental U.S., orders from qualifying accounts received by the end of the day on Mondays will arrive at bookstores no later than Friday of the same week.

HarperCollins

Independent booksellers in the U.S. can take advantage of the HarperCollins 2016 Holiday Express Shipping Program through Friday, January 13, 2017.

All qualifying orders received by 3:00 p.m. ET will ship out the next business day and will be expedited so that in most cases they will be delivered in two business days, provided books are in stock and the account is in good credit standing. New title laydowns will continue to ship by their established on-sale dates.

All reorders of HarperCollins and Harlequin titles are eligible for the Holiday Express Shipping Program. The minimum for a single order is 30 units. If the minimum order is not reached because HarperCollins is out of stock on any titles and the customer allows backorders, then HarperCollins will still ship the order free freight. If the out-of-stock titles become available within the program timeframe, the balance of the order will be expedited at no extra charge.

Stores should process their orders in the same way they always have; no special instructions are needed to take part in the program. All qualifying orders placed from October 31 through January 13 will receive the special handling.

Questions about the Holiday Express Shipping Program should be addressed to a store’s HarperCollins sales representative.

Macmillan Publishers

Macmillan Publishers will be implementing expedited shipping for independent retailers’ reorders through December 2016. The program applies to independent retailers who order on Macmillan’s retail returnable schedule and for locations that typically have shipment transit times of three days or more.

Through December 23, shipments with an invoice value greater than $100 will be shipped via a two-day air expedited service to locations where shipment transit times are normally three days or more using standard ground services. With the holiday program, all independent retailers throughout the U.S. will have the benefit of ship times of two days or less.

For accounts that are typically reached within two days under standard ground shipping methods, there will be no change to their current daily ship schedule for reorders.

Orders for new releases will be dispatched per Macmillan’s normal schedule, ensuring availability in time for the books’ publication dates. Shipments for an invoice value less than $100 will be shipped via the standard shipping schedule.

Booksellers with questions should contact their Macmillan sales reps. 

Penguin Random House

Through Penguin Random House’s two-day transit shipping program for the holiday season, orders for Penguin Random House physical books received in the company’s order system from independent booksellers by 3:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, will ship no later than the following business day for arrival at stores within two days, weather and transport conditions permitting. The program will run through March 3, 2017.

The program includes Penguin as well as Random House titles. All frontlist and backlist books from the imprints of the Crown and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Groups, Random House, Penguin Publishing Group, Random House Children’s Books, Penguin Young Readers, Penguin Random House Audio — together with Penguin Random House Publisher Services clients — are eligible.

Penguin Random House titles ship from the company’s Westminster, Maryland, and Crawfordsville, Indiana, operations centers. Both facilities have weekend shifts in place to enable orders received on Fridays and Saturdays to be shipped on the following Monday.

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster will continue its West Coast Rapid Replenishment Program through the holiday season.