This holiday season Lulu is providing a list of key dates to ensure orders arrive in time for the holidays. Order with the following constraints:
- Orders from North and South America and for Publisher Grade Books must be placed before 6 p.m. EST (21:00 UTC)
- Orders from Europe, Middle East, and Africa must be placed before 6 p.m. GMT
- Orders from Australia, New Zealand and Oceania must be placed by 6 p.m. GMT + 10
- Orders must be 25 or less to meet the Holiday deadlines listed below
- Some items may not be available for certain shipping options in your region. Double check your items in the shopping cart
- Lulu does not recommend the Mail shipping method and will not guarantee December 24th delivery
Disclaimer: The dates and information provided are intended to serve as a guideline for order delivery by December 24th, 2009. The dates provided here do not imply a guarantee. Weather and unforeseen circumstances may delay deliveries.
The full list of holiday shipping deadlines by country and shipping FAQ! Click the tab for your region of the globe and compare the deadlines for each ship method.
37 Comments
It is great to give a time orders need to be placed by, but it would be more helpful if there was a date associated with those times. do these times work if I order by the respective time on December 24th?
Hi Henry,
You will need to click on the link in the above post (http://www.lulu.com/en/help/shipping_faq) for the full chart. It will tell you the deadline for each shipping method in each country. I hope this helps.
Nick,
I have a client that I am about to print a series of books for his family and a public library. It will be a set of 17 books printed 25 times. I am trying to determine if the paper used is archival. If not, do you have a lifespan for the print quality? Thank you.
Tabitha
Hi Nick,
Could you please tell us when Lulu will be closed over the Christmas period? I’m wanting to receive a single hardcover book in Australia by the last week of January, and am trying to calculate the latest date I can submit it … but obviously need to block out certain dates as NOT business days!
Thanks.
Tabitha and Karen,
I don’t know the answers to your questions myself, but I am following up with our vendor manager to get you answers and will post them here.
Tabitha,
The paper is acid free and archival quality.
Hi Karen,
The question is a bit complicated as we have printers in multiple countries. If you’re ordering for the end of January though then it should be past any downtime caused by the holidays for any of our printers. Standard turn-around times should apply.
I’m very disappointed with these alleged “holiday shipping deadlines.” I placed my order 10 days in advance of the published deadline and the order still hasn’t shipped yet. (Order #3747690 – it is still in the FULFILLING status). At this point, I can’t imagine how it will arrive in time.
The shipping deadline table does include a large “no guarantee” statement – but it seems disingenuous to mislead people into thinking that orders will arrive by Christmas, if you can’t even turn around an order placed a week and a half before the deadline.
David,
I am very sorry about the delay. I have confirmed that your order will arrive by December 24th. If the need arises, then we will expedite your shipping to ensure it gets to you in time. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for your reply, Nick. But unfortunately for me, Dec 24 won’t be “in time.” Once I receive these items, I’ll need to turn around and resend them myself to their final recipients.
The holiday shipping table stated that ‘expedited’ orders placed by Dec 11 would arrive by Dec 24. That would suggest a manufacturing turn-around time of 7 business days. But my order has now been in manufacturing for 13 business days…longer even than the maximum length stated in the Shipping FAQ. I can understand if manufacturing times are slower during this busy holiday period – but if that’s the case, the published holiday shipping deadlines shouldn’t be so optimistic.
The author of this book passed away during the past year. We worked hard to edit his work into and submit it well in advance of the ordering deadlines, in hopes of having a meaningful Christmas gift for those who knew him.
If my order were to ship today, it might possibly arrive in time for the holiday. Otherwise, I’ll be out of luck.
David,
I’m very sorry about that. I can tell you that we are trying to get all of the orders placed before the deadlines out as quickly as possible, but unfortunately I can’t guarantee anything. I will also make sure that our product managers hear your feedback about the shipping deadlines table.
I ordered in time for the holidays deadlines and even paid for 2 day shipping (when I allegedly didn’t have to). The order has not shipped, and I need it by December 23. If it ships today, all is well. However, if it ships tomorrow, I either need to pay for overnight shipping or change the shipping address to reflect where I will be on December 24. Is there someone who can help me with this? The people who handle the tickets are not helpful at all.
Thank you.
Cherie,
Can you tell me your order number? I will try to find out more for you.
Nick,
Thanks for trying. The order actually did ship yesterday, but I have to tell you that it’s extra frustrating that you do not have phone support because the folks responding to emails mostly do not even bother to read the email coming in. They respond with some standard form letter that doesn’t even address the issue at hand.
Before I even printed with you, I emailed in a question about margins because there is confusing and seemingly contradicting information on your site about this topic. The question was extremely clear. I was asked for information the name of the project so the person could see it in your system. I explained that the project was not yet uploaded; rather, I wanted to upload it correctly so I asked the margin question. I never received a response after that.
So far, Lulu.com is providing some of the worst service I’ve experienced in a while, which is really disappointing because I like your model.
Cherie,
I’m glad your order shipped. I’m also sorry you had a negative experience. Clearly this is an area we need to improve, and I will be sure that your feedback is taken into consideration. In the meantime, please feel free to email me at npopio@lulu.com if you have any more questions. I know it’s not the same as a phone number, but I can try to help.
I have also had similarly frustrating experiences with shipping and customer service. I placed two orders in the past month, one on November 30th (Order #3746121), and one on December 9th (Order #3746298). Both are still fulfilling.
The order placed on November 30th was not a Holiday order, but business related, and when I tried to contact customer service about the delay, I was told that I would have the order by Christmas as long as it was placed before the deadline. Obviously, the order was placed weeks before the pertinent deadlines. I was then informed via email that the order was going to ship on December 9th. This did not happen, and the order is still “fulfilling.” All attempts to reach customer service have been fruitless.
The order placed on December 9th has still not shipped, and although I ordered it with expedited shipping, it now seems unlikely that it will arrive before Christmas. It is very frustrating for the customers who saw the dates posted on your site, anticipated the rush, and ordered in advance, only to see that the orders are not going to arrive in time.
Since then, and even this past weekend, I have gotten emails from Lulu competitors advertising that they are dealing with the holiday rush well, and have even extended their order deadlines up to this past weekend. I have to say that I am seriously considering making these my last Lulu orders.
It seems to me that I am not the only one wondering where in the heck my order is. I placed my order for my calendar on the 14th of December and I chose expedited shipping which stated a time of 2-3 days for shipping. If I am correct in following the shipping table my order should be in the shipped category but it is still in the “fulfilling” stage. I ordered this calendar for a christmas gift and now I am very disappointed that I might not be able to give it as a gift. The order number is 3793183. Hopefully you can tell me what is going on. I was looking forward to something very professionally done, but from what I have seen so far it sadly isn’t that way.
Tad,
I am very sorry about the delay. I just checked and order 3746121 shipped today. Obviously this is much later than expected. I have refunded your shipping, but please let me know if there’s anything else I can do.
As for order 3746298 I will ask our vendor manager if there’s anything we can do to make sure it gets to you by Christmas.
Rachel,
I am very sorry about the delay. We are experiencing delays due to the high volume of holiday orders. We are trying to make sure everyone gets their books in time, and I will ask ask our vendor manager if there’s anything we can do to make sure it gets to you by Christmas.
Please add me to the list of buyers who have not received their orders as expected. I used the shipping guideline and purchased 2 calendars and 1 book on the 15th, paying extra for expedited shipping to ensure it made it by Christmas. I just checked at my order still shows as FULFILLING. It’s order 3798580.
I had problems with my order last Christmas but you guys handled it pretty well so I gave you another chance. Any reason why I should bring my business back here next year if my order does not arrive by Christmas?
I am getting very annoyed with this whole process. It doesn’t matter how much I contact you or anyone else at your company I get NO response. It is just horrible customer service in my opinion. So much for an amazing Christmas gift. Thanks.
Just found out my package should arrive today. Thanks to whoever got the ball rolling. Sorry about the angry tone, but it was rather frustrating.
Kelly,
We’re working with our print partners to try and make sure everyone gets their orders in time. If you do not receive your order in time for the holidays, please let me know and I will see what we can do.
Rachel,
I’m very glad you should be getting your order in time, and I completely understand your frustration.
I’m also experiencing similar delays with holiday ordering. Next year, Lulu if you’re going to give everyone a handy holiday shipping chart, add two weeks to the deadlines so we’re not paying for expedited shipping on something that won’t ship in time anyway. Order # is 3806736 placed within holiday timeframe and still in “fulfilling” status. Since it’s 3:45pm EST right now, I’m assuming I won’t receive my order until well after Christmas. If this is the case it would be nice to have shipping cost downgraded. I emailed customer service w/ this and no response yet.
Michelle,
If you do not receive your order in time, please let me know.
Hi Nick,
Thanks for quick response. As of 11:30 Pacific time on Christmas Eve, I have not received my order and the status still is listed as “fulfilling” with no response from customer service.
Michelle,
I am very sorry to hear that. I have refunded the shipping for you.
I am very disappointed with the service I received from Lulu this year (order #3760045). I used them last year for holiday printing and it was great. This year, like everyone else, the printing times were terrible and response from customer service was even worse.
I placed my order on Dec 5 so that I would receive by Dec 21 at the latest to take with me for our holiday travels. Needless to say, on Dec 21 they were still “fulfilling”. Once I get home I will have to ship the calendars out to family instead of letting them open on Christmas. This is obsurd considering I ordered so far in advance AND paid $13.49 for standard shipping, which is way too high compared to competitors.
No phone support and “canned” email responses from the bogus email support is frustrating and the main reason I will probably not use Lulu in the future.
For now, I expect at least a refund for my shipping cost if not more if Lulu expects me to ever use them again.
Jennifer,
I am very sorry your order did not get to you in time for your travels. I have refunded the shipping cost for you. I hope this helps.
Regarding order #3816337
I am extremely disappointed with the customer service response time and shipping time of my lulu order. I paid for overnight shipping, to have my order arrive by Christmas and my order has yet to ship. I am applying to Graduate School for architecture, and had ordered my portfolios through lulu. Because my order has yet to arrive, let alone ship, I was forced to order another set of portfolios and pay a large premium to a local printer to have my portfolios in in time. I allowed an extra week for lulu to deliver my books late, after the date promised by my overnight shipping arrangement, and lulu was unable to deliver my product in any reasonable or unreasonable time frame.
I am so disappointed and frustrated with this experience. I trusted lulu to deliver on-time and as promised and lulu let me down.
I was expecting to recommend lulu to my professors and colleagues who often need to publish portfolios for academic and professional reasons. Given my experience so far with the lack of service and stalled fulfillment and shipping, I cannot say that I will ever recommend lulu.
I hope the service department can finally turn my experience around with a refund of my overnight shipping and my full order purchase amount. Because of lulu’s inability to deliver as promised, I was forced to pay 3 times my purchase order amount to have new portfolios printed so that they were in by the deadlines – all because of lulu’s error.
Please make this situation right. I am feeling punished for trusting your service.
Hi,
Order number 3792647
I have had a similar experience to others who have posted comments here.
I ordered a larger run (100) of a very popular local dictionary I have published through Lulu.
I am selling the books to a very small bookstore. Since I placed the order on Dec 15 before the deadline AND because I received an email stating the shipping would be changed to the fastest method in order to arrive my Christmas, I told my customer, who in turn, told her customers that the books would be in for Christmas. I had presold all of the books.
Many people had a very unhappy Christmas since the book did not arrive.
Perhaps the most frustrating is that books have not even shipped yet on Dec 29. I have placed many customer service inquiries and even contacted someone at sales via the phone but nothing has helped.
Please please please help!
At this point I am too discouraged to be angry. Your companies lack of professionalism has made me look unprofessional since so many customers are without books.
Sincerely,
Rachelle Beaudoin
Kara,
I am very sorry you had a negative experience. I have refunded your order for you. Please let me know if I can be of further help.
Rachelle,
I just checked, and your order shipped yesterday. Because of the delay, customer service has refunded your shipping for you. I hope this helps, and if you have any further issues, please let us know.
Hi Nick,
I hate to join in the party with those who have items stuck in fulfilling status which haven’t shipped yet, but I am so frustrated, I could scream. My order number is 3800592 and my case numbers are 00357510 and 00358557. I ordered my item, a 2010 Datebook on 12/16/09, hoping that it would arrive by 12/31/09, which should be plenty of time to receive a periodical for the new year. However, my item has not shipped and has been in fulfilling status since the day it was ordered, which will be 15 days ago tomorrow. I have sent a couple of email support requests and even responded to the automated responses, making sure the ref #’s/case #’s were in the subject line and I haven’t received a response from anyone. I contacted the publisher of this periodical and they got back to me immediately and said there should be no reason why my order hasn’t shipped, especially since others ordered the same item on the same day as me from Lulu and already have theirs! I don’t want to be flippant, but this is completely unacceptable! Could you possibly help to find out what is going on here? Thanks!
Nick,
As you suggested in your reply to my comment above regarding order #3798580…My shipment did not arrive by Christmas (it arrived only after I returned home from Christmas, on Dec 28).
Thanks,
Kelly
Apparently I’m not the only one who is having issues with their shipments not arriving on time. I placed an order (order #3801367) on December 16th thinking that I would have plenty of time for my order to arrive before Christmas and worse case scenario it would be fine if it arrived a few days after. It’s now the 31st and it still hasn’t even been shipped!!! I ordered 3 paperback photobooks to give as Christmas gifts and one to be given as a gift for a birthday on January 1st! This is the first time I have ordered from this company and will probably be the last. I’ve tried to email customer service 3 times and have received no response. It’s the saddest display of customer service I have ever seen and to not even have access to a customer service phone number to even contact someone is ludicrous. I don’t even know what to do about this situation since I can’t cancel my order/get refunded for the full amount. I feel like I’ve been scammed. If there is any way you can help, please do! I would like to think that there is something you can do to at least make this right.
These fancy new marketing and sales projects may be fun, but you are not getting your orders delivered – that’s where the revenue is. I am waiting for orders in excess of $400 placed since 7 December. My promises for Christmas were broken and I have egg on my face.
Kelly,
I am very sorry to hear that. I have refunded your order for you.
Lena,
I am so sorry you had a negative experience. I have refunded your order for you. I hope this helps.
Denis,
Can you tell me the order number? I will see what I can do.
Thanks Nick.