Care to share a warehouse? The First Book National Book Bank is always looking for donations of warehouse space we can use to distribute books. By donating space, you can bring tens of thousands of books to children in need in your community and across the country.
The ideal warehouse facility will:
Operational (staff and equipment on hand to receive shipments)- Loading dock
- Manual pallet jacks available for use
- Forklift assistance when necessary (NOT operated by First Book)
- 7,500 or more square feet of storage and working space (capacity to house 200-500 pallets / 250,000-500,000 books at a given time)
- Use of empty pallets for assembling book orders
- Dedicated dock for UPS trailer and LTL shipments for 2-3 days during the distribution.
- Comfort with First Book employees and volunteers working in the facility during warehouse business hours.
- Access to restrooms and break room area, if possible.
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How does a First Book distribution work?
- A publisher offers to donate books to First Book.
- First Book searches for a suitable warehouse partner to provide the needed square footage (usually 5,000 sq. ft. or more) for six to eight weeks and sometimes longer. First Book’s experienced staff will work with the facilities that meet the distribution criteria and will confirm the storage space and timing before the books arrive.
First Book provides the publisher with the warehouse’s shipping address and contact information. The publisher ships the books to the facility.- The warehouse is asked to accept the delivery and unload the truck(s). Books are stored at the facility for the pre-determined timeframe. All of the books are palletized.
- If possible, First Book asks that the pallets are staged on the floor with an additional 500 sq ft area prior to our arrival.
- First Book staff and volunteers from the community travel to the warehouse to stage orders. Depending on the size of the donation, this can take two to five days. Occasional warehouse help, such as moving pallets with a forklift or access to a pallet jack, may be necessary.
- Books are picked up at the warehouse by local nonprofit organizations and schools serving children from low-income families. First Book will also ship out books via UPS (UPS will often drop a trailer for a few days or schedule multiple pick-ups). First Book staff and volunteers provide the labor to direct traffic and load cars.
First Book has extensive warehouse experience. Our employees and trained volunteers will be responsible for all logistics except delivery acceptance, initial receiving inventory, movement of rack stored pallets and storage of pallets.
First Book provides donors of warehouse space with appropriate tax deduction documentation. First Book will also publicize the warehouse donation in book distribution marketing materials and if possible, local media outreach. Depending on the scope of the donation, First Book will be happy to discuss other ways to spotlight the donation partnership.
For more information, please contact our First Book National Book Bank team at 1-866-READ-NOW or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .