diff --git a/src/zipr.cpp b/src/zipr.cpp
index bb84e91e0233992dcebb41570722a1833b1eec4f..3c4ad0db38ed52d13b7a0c1cfd9f64226d6efe1f 100644
--- a/src/zipr.cpp
+++ b/src/zipr.cpp
@@ -156,7 +156,10 @@ ZiprOptionsNamespace_t *ZiprImpl_t::RegisterOptions(ZiprOptionsNamespace_t *glob
 	m_callbacks.SetDescription("Set the path of the file "
 		"which contains any required callbacks.");
 	m_seed.SetDescription("Seed the random number generator with this value.");
-	m_seed.SetValue((int)time(NULL));
+
+	// our pid is a fine default value -- had issues with time(NULL) as two copies of zipr from 
+	// were getting the same time(NULL) return value since we invoked them in parallel.
+	m_seed.SetValue((int)getpid());	
 
 	zipr_namespace->AddOption(&m_output_filename);
 	zipr_namespace->AddOption(&m_callbacks);