diff --git a/summingbird-builder/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingEnv.scala b/summingbird-builder/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingEnv.scala
index 3bfd37c22..37b06711a 100644
--- a/summingbird-builder/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingEnv.scala
+++ b/summingbird-builder/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingEnv.scala
@@ -115,6 +115,16 @@ case class ScaldingEnv(override val jobName: String, inargs: Array[String])
 
     val scald = Scalding(name, opts)
         .withRegistrars(ajob.registrars ++ builder.registrar.getRegistrars.asScala)
+        .withConfigUpdater {
+          // Set these before the user settings, so that the user
+          // can change them if needed
+
+          // Make sure we use block compression from mappers to reducers
+          _.put("mapred.output.compression.type", "BLOCK")
+            .put("io.compression.codec.lzo.compression.level", "3")
+            .put("mapred.output.compress", "true")
+            .put("mapred.compress.map.output", "true")
+        }
         .withConfigUpdater{ c =>
           c.updated(ajob.transformConfig(c.toMap))
         }
diff --git a/summingbird-scalding/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingPlatform.scala b/summingbird-scalding/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingPlatform.scala
index d8a738099..878c80689 100644
--- a/summingbird-scalding/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingPlatform.scala
+++ b/summingbird-scalding/src/main/scala/com/twitter/summingbird/scalding/ScaldingPlatform.scala
@@ -534,6 +534,7 @@ class Scalding(
     Scalding.logger.debug("Removes: {}", scaldingConfig.removes)
     Scalding.logger.debug("Updates: {}", scaldingConfig.updates)
 
+    // now let the user do her thing:
     val transformedConfig = transformConfig(scaldingConfig)
 
     Scalding.logger.debug("User+Serialization config changes:")
@@ -544,6 +545,7 @@ class Scalding(
     transformedConfig.updates.foreach(kv => conf.set(kv._1, kv._2.toString))
     // Store the options used:
     conf.set("summingbird.options", options.toString)
+    conf.set("summingbird.jobname", jobName)
 
     def ifUnset(k: String, v: String) { if(null == conf.get(k)) { conf.set(k, v) } }
     // Set the mapside cache size, this is important to not be too small