For ten months of the year—encompassing fall and spring semesters—Mercer University Press shares a parking lot with students from Mercer’s Law School. We have our own designated spaces that most of the students respect, but the lot is often completely full during those busy months of classes, exams, meetings, and activities. It makes for interesting viewing out my office window when my eyes need a screen break: groups of fresh-faced young people laden with full backpacks, water bottles in one hand and cell phones in the other, heading to vehicles as varied as the students are. One of them has a pink VW Beetle! Sometimes I hear them chatting. The lot is basically empty now that school is out for the summer. I can see the Mercer University Press vehicles, and that’s about it.
Book orders taper off in summer too. Vendors wait for university book choices, bookstore restocks, and author events that pick up again in the fall. People still order and read our books, but sales are lower. What do we do during these quiet weeks?
We take inventory! The five staff members of Mercer University Press shut down orders and head to the warehouse all this week to count every single book in preparation for the fiscal year audit. It’s easier than it sounds, at least for some books. Much of our stock still resides in original boxes from the printers, conveniently labeled with MUP numbers and quantities. All other boxes—containing returned books that we have re-boxed—are also carefully labeled. We count the “pick room,” too, where we store books on shelves, ready for packing orders and shipping to clients. It all requires a bit more math than I’m used to. (If there are four rows of six book boxes, and each row is five boxes tall, and there are twenty-four books in each box, how many books are on the pallet?)
The warehouse is big (this photo is about one-third of it). It’s air-conditioned, but on the hottest days air circulates poorly. The book boxes are stored on pallets at three levels: A, B, and C. C is on the floor, and our most frequently sold books go there. For those like me who are height averse, climbing to level A takes a triple dose of courage. Director Marc Jolley and Business Associate Jenny Toole are usually kind enough to venture up. Sometimes surprises appear, like a drawing on top of a book box!
Each book title (whether just a few books or half a pallet full of their boxes) gets a handy strip of paper listing pertinent information. We printed a few hundred strips, so let’s see how many get used this time around. With a stock of cold water, plenty of tape and calculators, some chocolate fuel, and a cheerful attitude, we’ll get it all done in time for the auditor.
On to the count!
© Mercer University Press 2024
Kelley graduated from Mercer University in 2000 with a BA in English/Creative Writing. After twenty years as a freelance copy editor, including work for MUP, she has returned to full-time work outside the home with the good people at Mercer University Press. She loves to read and also enjoys great TV series, long walks with dachshunds Luke and Leia, and all things nerdy. Kelley is married to John, a “Double Bear” (BSE 2001 and MSE 2010), and they have two teenage daughters, a high school senior and a Mercer sophomore.
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