DTRPG Shipping

[svensson]

So I ordered 'Sun County' and 'Pavis County & Beyond' [Grand Pavis Campaign v. 3] as a POD from DriveThru.

I ordered this Christmas week with the benevolent permission of the Mistress of Finance 😉 with the understanding that it was probably gonna take some time. The week between Christmas and New Year's are typically time off for the printing industry.

But NOPE! I just got notified that both orders shipped today. That's very much in line with the other two POD hardbacks I've ordered. They'll take about a week or 10 days to get here, but it's a totally unexpected surprise. I didn't think they'd move anywhere near this fast.

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, svensson said:

But NOPE! I just got notified that both orders shipped today. That's very much in line with the other two POD hardbacks I've ordered.

I ordered Chaosium's DriveThruFiction book Arthur the Soldier on New Year's and got notice of shipment yesterday, whereas it usually takes 3+ weeks before I get shipping notice. Perhaps they've brought in temp help to work through printing during the holidays.

[Squaredeal Sten]

I got Arthur the Soldier myself a couple of days ago.  It may be that DriveThru made a batch of them.  So they were not one-off products this time.

[Nick Brooke]

17 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

I got Arthur the Soldier myself a couple of days ago.  It may be that DriveThru made a batch of them.  So they were not one-off products this time.

That's not how print-on-demand works. There are no "batches" waiting to be shipped. Each order gets queued for printing when it's placed.

In my experience, softcovers are printed more quickly than hardcovers (when I order books in both formats on the same day, they can be shipped a week or so apart).

I don't think small-format paperbacks are particularly quick to print, but that may also be a relevant factor.