diff --git a/batchconsumer/sender.go b/batchconsumer/sender.go
index 03e0421..ed90ad6 100644
--- a/batchconsumer/sender.go
+++ b/batchconsumer/sender.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ var ErrMessageIgnored = errors.New("Message intentionally skipped by sender")
 
 // Sender an interface needed for batch consumer implementations
 type Sender interface {
+	// Initialize called once before ProcessMessage and SendBatch
+	Initialize(shardID string)
 	// ProcessMessage receives a raw message and is expected to return an appropriately formatted
 	// message as well as a list of tags for that log line.  A tag corresponds to a batch that
 	// it'll be put into.  Typically tags are series names.
diff --git a/batchconsumer/writer.go b/batchconsumer/writer.go
index cf5eab4..4fe8c9b 100644
--- a/batchconsumer/writer.go
+++ b/batchconsumer/writer.go
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ func (b *batchedWriter) Initialize(shardID string, checkpointer kcl.Checkpointer
 		BatchInterval: b.config.BatchInterval,
 	}
 
+	b.sender.Initialize(shardID)
+
 	b.chkpntManager = newCheckpointManager(checkpointer, b.config.CheckpointFreq)
 	b.batcherManager = newBatcherManager(b.sender, b.chkpntManager, bmConfig, b.failedLogsFile)
 
diff --git a/batchconsumer/writer_test.go b/batchconsumer/writer_test.go
index 7bc7e33..8de24a9 100644
--- a/batchconsumer/writer_test.go
+++ b/batchconsumer/writer_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ import (
 
 type ignoringSender struct{}
 
+func (i ignoringSender) Initialize(shardID string) {}
+
 func (i ignoringSender) ProcessMessage(rawmsg []byte) (msg []byte, tags []string, err error) {
 	return nil, nil, ErrMessageIgnored
 }
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@ type tagBatch struct {
 	batch [][]byte
 }
 type msgAsTagSender struct {
+	shardID   string
 	batches   map[string][][][]byte
 	saveBatch chan tagBatch
 	shutdown  chan struct{}
@@ -61,6 +64,10 @@ func (i *msgAsTagSender) startBatchSaver(saveBatch <-chan tagBatch, shutdown <-c
 	}()
 }
 
+func (i *msgAsTagSender) Initialize(shardID string) {
+	i.shardID = shardID
+}
+
 func (i *msgAsTagSender) ProcessMessage(rawmsg []byte) (msg []byte, tags []string, err error) {
 	if "ignore" == string(rawmsg) {
 		return nil, nil, ErrMessageIgnored
@@ -176,6 +183,8 @@ func TestProcessRecordsSingleBatchBasic(t *testing.T) {
 	wrt := NewBatchedWriter(mockconfig, mocksender, mockFailedLogsFile)
 	wrt.Initialize("test-shard", mockcheckpointer)
 
+	assert.Equal("test-shard", mocksender.shardID)
+
 	err := wrt.ProcessRecords([]kcl.Record{
 		kcl.Record{SequenceNumber: "1", Data: encode("tag1")},
 		kcl.Record{SequenceNumber: "2", Data: encode("tag1")},
diff --git a/cmd/batchconsumer/main.go b/cmd/batchconsumer/main.go
index 004ec36..ff7c1d4 100644
--- a/cmd/batchconsumer/main.go
+++ b/cmd/batchconsumer/main.go
@@ -23,7 +23,12 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 type exampleSender struct {
-	output logger.KayveeLogger
+	shardID string
+	output  logger.KayveeLogger
+}
+
+func (e *exampleSender) Initialize(shardID string) {
+	e.shardID = shardID
 }
 
 func (e *exampleSender) ProcessMessage(rawmsg []byte) ([]byte, []string, error) {