diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a0360bb..aefa82e 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>com.amazonaws</groupId>
-    <version>1.0.1</version>
+    <version>1.0.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <artifactId>dynamodb-import-export-tool</artifactId>
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
     <name>DynamoDB Import Export Tool</name>
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     <description>Exports DynamoDB items via parallel scan into a blocking queue, then consumes the queue and import DynamoDB items into a replica table using asynchronous writes.</description>
     <scm>
         <url>https://github.com/awslabs/dynamodb-import-export-tool.git</url>
+        <tag>1.0.2-SNAPSHOT</tag>
     </scm>
     <properties>
         <aws.java.sdk.version>1.10.10</aws.java.sdk.version>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/AbstractLogConsumer.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/AbstractLogConsumer.java
index 960a59d..7f5b35a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/AbstractLogConsumer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/AbstractLogConsumer.java
@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@
  */
 package com.amazonaws.dynamodb.bootstrap;
 
+import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorCompletionService;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
@@ -30,8 +32,9 @@
  */
 public abstract class AbstractLogConsumer {
 
-    public ExecutorCompletionService<Void> exec;
-    protected ExecutorService threadPool;
+    // only keep a reference to the thread pool because we need to be able to shut it down
+    private ExecutorService threadPool;
+    protected ExecutorCompletionService<Void> exec;
 
     /**
      * Logger for the DynamoDBBootstrapWorker.
@@ -39,11 +42,23 @@ public abstract class AbstractLogConsumer {
     private static final Logger LOGGER = LogManager
             .getLogger(AbstractLogConsumer.class);
 
+
+
+    protected AbstractLogConsumer(int numThreads) {
+        this.threadPool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(numThreads);
+        this.exec = new ExecutorCompletionService<Void>(threadPool, new ArrayBlockingQueue<Future<Void>>(numThreads));
+    }
+
+    protected AbstractLogConsumer(ExecutorCompletionService<Void> exec, ExecutorService threadPool) {
+        this.threadPool = threadPool;
+        this.exec = exec;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Writes the result of a scan to another endpoint asynchronously. Will call
      * getWorker to determine what job to submit with the result.
      * 
-     * @param <result>
+     * @param result
      *            the SegmentedScanResult to asynchronously write to another
      *            endpoint.
      */
@@ -52,7 +67,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractLogConsumer {
     /**
      * Shuts the thread pool down.
      * 
-     * @param <awaitTermination>
+     * @param awaitTermination
      *            If true, this method waits for the threads in the pool to
      *            finish. If false, this thread pool shuts down without
      *            finishing their current tasks.
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/BlockingQueueConsumer.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/BlockingQueueConsumer.java
index 11cb995..c853bcd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/BlockingQueueConsumer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/BlockingQueueConsumer.java
@@ -33,13 +33,8 @@ public class BlockingQueueConsumer extends AbstractLogConsumer {
     private BlockingQueue<DynamoDBEntryWithSize> queue;
 
     public BlockingQueueConsumer(int numThreads) {
+        super(Math.max(numThreads, Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors()));
         this.queue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<DynamoDBEntryWithSize>(20);
-        int numProcessors = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
-        if (numProcessors > numThreads) {
-            numThreads = numProcessors;
-        }
-        this.threadPool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(numThreads);
-        this.exec = new ExecutorCompletionService<Void>(threadPool);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/CommandLineInterface.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/CommandLineInterface.java
index 67639fc..b8de07e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/CommandLineInterface.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/CommandLineInterface.java
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ public static void main(String[] args) {
 
         TableDescription readTableDescription = sourceClient.describeTable(
                 sourceTable).getTable();
+
         TableDescription writeTableDescription = destinationClient
                 .describeTable(destinationTable).getTable();
         int numSegments = 10;
@@ -107,11 +108,27 @@ public static void main(String[] args) {
         final double writeThroughput = calculateThroughput(
                 writeTableDescription, writeThroughputRatio, false);
 
+        final double averageItemSize;
+        if (readTableDescription.getItemCount().equals(Long.valueOf(0L))) {
+            averageItemSize = 0.0;
+        } else {
+            averageItemSize = readTableDescription.getTableSizeBytes().doubleValue() / readTableDescription.getItemCount().doubleValue();
+        }
+        final double averageWcuPerItem = Math.ceil(averageItemSize / 1024.0);
+        final double averageWcuPerBatchWriteItem = averageWcuPerItem * 25;
+        final int parallelBatchWriteItems = (int) Math.min(1L, Math.round(Math.ceil(writeThroughput / averageWcuPerBatchWriteItem)));
+        if (maxWriteThreads > parallelBatchWriteItems) {
+            LOGGER.warn("Expected WCU per BatchWriteItem call is " + averageWcuPerBatchWriteItem
+                    + " so this configuration could support up to " + parallelBatchWriteItems
+                    + " parallel BatchWriteItem calls. However, maxWriteThreads(" + maxWriteThreads
+                    + ") was greater than this expectation.");
+        }
+
         try {
             ExecutorService sourceExec = getSourceThreadPool(numSegments);
             ExecutorService destinationExec = getDestinationThreadPool(maxWriteThreads);
             DynamoDBConsumer consumer = new DynamoDBConsumer(destinationClient,
-                    destinationTable, writeThroughput, destinationExec);
+                    destinationTable, writeThroughput, destinationExec, maxWriteThreads);
 
             final DynamoDBBootstrapWorker worker = new DynamoDBBootstrapWorker(
                     sourceClient, readThroughput, sourceTable, sourceExec,
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/DynamoDBConsumer.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/DynamoDBConsumer.java
index a5bfa6c..a828048 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/DynamoDBConsumer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/dynamodb/bootstrap/DynamoDBConsumer.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorCompletionService;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
@@ -46,12 +47,11 @@ public class DynamoDBConsumer extends AbstractLogConsumer {
      * Class to consume logs and write them to a DynamoDB table.
      */
     public DynamoDBConsumer(AmazonDynamoDBClient client, String tableName,
-            double rateLimit, ExecutorService exec) {
+            double rateLimit, ExecutorService exec, int parallelBatchWriteItems) {
+        super(new ExecutorCompletionService<Void>(exec, new ArrayBlockingQueue<Future<Void>>(parallelBatchWriteItems)), exec);
         this.client = client;
         this.tableName = tableName;
         this.rateLimiter = RateLimiter.create(rateLimit);
-        super.threadPool = exec;
-        super.exec = new ExecutorCompletionService<Void>(threadPool);
     }
 
     /**