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Terry Hooper-Scharf

Thursday 2 September 2021

"Fulfillment Fee".......A Mystery. Updated: Its Covid to Blame (right)



Apparently the print on demand company is attempting to kill business. This was their response to my query:

Lulu.com
Greetings Terry! Thank you for reaching out to us today! We do understand the concern with increased pricing of publications. We have seen a study increase to printing and shipping costs over the last two years. This Fulfillment Fee will offset the rising costs of packaging your books for shipping in a durable, safe, and responsible manner. The Fulfillment Fee will be added into the shipping costs related to purchases. At this time we are informing customers of the future increase and as the month goes on, we will release more information regarding the Fulfillment Fee, including the amount of the Fulfillment Fee.

So no idea what the extra cost is going to be. In other words buy while you can before they **** everything up.

Here is the PODs explanation while stating postage rates have risen for the "Fulfillment Fee" (extra charge) which they will NOT tell us about how much:

"
Lulu.com
Thank you for your reply! Manufacturing and shipping costs have slowly been increasing for the last two years, primarily due to issues related to Covid-19. This is especially true in the paper industry. We strive to keep costs down as much as possible however at this time we most increase prices in order to might the raising costs in manufacturing and shipping of printed materials."

Is publishing going to be worth it any more? Current books will stay the same price but if costs have increased -HOW? Oh....take it from meagre creator profits?

2 comments:

  1. Well I was thinking of using a POD for a little idea I had but even although I wasn't looking to make any money on it I think I'll pass on that now. Sounds horrendous what your going through as a busines.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh there are the two weeks to wait for someone to get back to you and if a printing problem it is YOUR fault until you really lay into them and they admit they were at fault but never apologise. As they are based in the US the taxes take my earnings as a filthy foreigner, the POD chooses the date best for it when it comes to paying and the exchange rate now they want a fulfillment payment for what is part of tjhe standard service and to push up prices and yet in the UK they uise one printer now wjho basically does not give a crap because if he has to send a replacement copy for a faulty one...he still gets paid by the POD. There are others out there but with 179 books stuck online I'm clinging on to the ice berg!

    ReplyDelete