You may save money doing fulfillment in-house, though that is certainly not a sure thing. One thing you will not save is time. Is your time better spent creating and implementing a viable marketing plan? Developing and pursuing new editorial products? Taking some time off and enjoying the fruits of your labor?

A corollary to the above is that if you are not detail-oriented, the kind of person needed to handle order processing and fulfillment, you should not even begin doing your own fulfillment. Leave it to the pros.

"You say that I may not save money handling my own fulfillment.
How can I not save?"

Well, the answer is economies of scale. To delve into it a little deeper, think of the rent you pay. Are you using all of the space for which you pay? Is the staff you pay all day busy all day? Can you get competitive prices on shipping supplies? Do your common carriers discount?

A well-run fulfillment operation utilizes every inch of space. It must. Space (like time) is money. Efficient fulfillment operations may not add additional employees when adding a new client, or when an existing client adds new titles, or a brand new line.

As with any fulfillment operation, Intrepid benefits from these economies of scale. We, in turn, pass these benefits along to our clients.

 Is the staff you pay all day, busy all day?

Here at Intrepid, we have a small stable of executives: each manages the affairs of a few selected clients. When you call to speak to them, you’ll likely find them pitching in the picking and packing or entering your orders into our computers. We feel this is the only way to ensure accuracy, while at the same time it gives us a chance to better know your business, your customers, and your problems. This allows us to help in areas beyond simple fulfillment, which is mutually beneficial. As you grow, we grow.

Because of our hands-on management style, one of our clients was able to effectively manage her publishing program while spending several years living outside the U. S. Another client very happily pursues his dream of working at home with his wife and young growing family, while we warehouse and ship his books and videos. Still another tells us that having Intrepid do his grunt work allows him to spend more time doing what he first got into publishing for, the climbing and photographing of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. (Note: We only get to see them in the distance from where we work.)

Isn’t your time better spent creating and
implementing a viable marketing plan?

And still another client, not burdened with the day-to-day problems and headaches of a warehouse operation (nor shackled with the costs of operation), has been able to grow from $50,000 in sales when we met 15 years ago, to today’s fast approaching $8 million! By the way, he now publishes four magazines as well, which we’re proud to say we were able to help launch with direct marketing as well as fulfillment help.