Going to Press: Shipping Delays and Damaged Orders on Lulu

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — May 26, 2026

One of the most common frustrations reported by Lulu users has little to do with writing and everything to do with the point where a book becomes a physical object. That is where timing starts to matter. Authors are no longer thinking about chapters or cover files. They are thinking about proofs, deliveries, launch dates, replacement copies, and whether the book will arrive in one piece. At that stage, even a small delay can become a real problem.

Lulu’s own help materials make clear that shipping and post-order problems are a regular enough part of the process that the company has standard procedures for damaged books, defective books, incorrectly packaged items, and missing or misdirected orders. Lulu says customers must report damaged, defective, or incorrectly packaged items within 30 days of the shipment date to receive a replacement copy. The company also states that, because print-on-demand books are manufactured to order, it does not generally accept returns for physical products. That means the margin for error is narrow once an order is placed.

That matters because shipping trouble is not just an inconvenience in publishing. It can disrupt the entire last stage of a project. If an author is ordering proofs before approving a release, a delayed shipment can push back publication. If books are being sent to readers, reviewers, or event sites, damaged copies or slow delivery can make the author look unreliable even when the underlying problem is with the vendor or carrier. Print-on-demand promises convenience, but convenience does not mean much when the timing slips at the exact moment the book is supposed to leave the screen and enter the real world.

Lulu also places practical responsibility on the customer when something goes wrong. Its order help materials say users should provide the order number when opening a support request and that digital images with the first complaint can speed resolution. That may be sensible from the company’s point of view, but it also means the burden falls quickly on the customer to document defects, preserve evidence, and navigate the support process correctly. For authors already dealing with deadlines, this turns a simple order into an extra layer of administrative work.

The larger issue is predictability. A publishing platform does not have to be perfect to be useful, but it does need to be dependable. Lulu still has customers who report good results, including positive reviews about print quality, straightforward ordering, and acceptable delivery times. That should be acknowledged. The platform is not failing every customer or every shipment. But public reviews are mixed, and the very existence of detailed support pathways for damaged goods, order lookup problems, and replacement claims shows that these are not hypothetical edge cases. They are recurring enough to be built into the system.

Authors considering Lulu should take a hard-headed approach to this part of the process. If a deadline matters, build in extra time. If a proof is important, order it earlier than you think you need to. If books must arrive for an event, a launch, or a library submission, do not assume everything will move cleanly on the first attempt. Print-on-demand is supposed to reduce risk, but the shipping side of the model can simply move the risk downstream, where it becomes a deadline problem instead of an inventory problem.

That is the practical warning here. Lulu can still be useful for print-on-demand work, but authors should not mistake availability for reliability. When a platform’s own support pages have to devote this much attention to damaged items, shipment disputes, and replacement procedures, that is a sign worth taking seriously. If you use Lulu, the smartest move is not blind confidence. It is planning for friction before the friction shows up.

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