diff --git a/clients/redshift/staging.go b/clients/redshift/staging.go
index 5c562034c..a38fa0864 100644
--- a/clients/redshift/staging.go
+++ b/clients/redshift/staging.go
@@ -10,25 +10,27 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/config/constants"
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/destination/ddl"
+
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/destination/types"
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/optimization"
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/s3lib"
 )
 
-func (s *Store) PrepareTemporaryTable(tableData *optimization.TableData, tableConfig *types.DwhTableConfig, tempTableID types.TableIdentifier, _ types.AdditionalSettings, _ bool) error {
-	// Redshift always creates a temporary table.
-	tempAlterTableArgs := ddl.AlterTableArgs{
-		Dwh:            s,
-		Tc:             tableConfig,
-		TableID:        tempTableID,
-		CreateTable:    true,
-		TemporaryTable: true,
-		ColumnOp:       constants.Add,
-		Mode:           tableData.Mode(),
-	}
+func (s *Store) PrepareTemporaryTable(tableData *optimization.TableData, tableConfig *types.DwhTableConfig, tempTableID types.TableIdentifier, _ types.AdditionalSettings, createTempTable bool) error {
+	if createTempTable {
+		tempAlterTableArgs := ddl.AlterTableArgs{
+			Dwh:            s,
+			Tc:             tableConfig,
+			TableID:        tempTableID,
+			CreateTable:    true,
+			TemporaryTable: true,
+			ColumnOp:       constants.Add,
+			Mode:           tableData.Mode(),
+		}
 
-	if err := tempAlterTableArgs.AlterTable(tableData.ReadOnlyInMemoryCols().GetColumns()...); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create temp table: %w", err)
+		if err := tempAlterTableArgs.AlterTable(tableData.ReadOnlyInMemoryCols().GetColumns()...); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create temp table: %w", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	fp, err := s.loadTemporaryTable(tableData, tempTableID)
diff --git a/clients/redshift/writes.go b/clients/redshift/writes.go
index fcaf08e67..edd130b95 100644
--- a/clients/redshift/writes.go
+++ b/clients/redshift/writes.go
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 package redshift
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
-
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/clients/shared"
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/destination/types"
 	"github.com/artie-labs/transfer/lib/optimization"
@@ -10,18 +8,7 @@ import (
 
 func (s *Store) Append(tableData *optimization.TableData) error {
 	tableID := s.IdentifierFor(tableData.TopicConfig(), tableData.Name())
-
-	// Redshift is slightly different, we'll load and create the temporary table via shared.Append
-	// Then, we'll invoke `ALTER TABLE target APPEND FROM staging` to combine the diffs.
-	temporaryTableID := shared.TempTableID(tableID, tableData.TempTableSuffix())
-	if err := shared.Append(s, tableData, types.AppendOpts{TempTableID: temporaryTableID}); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	_, err := s.Exec(
-		fmt.Sprintf(`ALTER TABLE %s APPEND FROM %s;`, tableID.FullyQualifiedName(), temporaryTableID.FullyQualifiedName()),
-	)
-	return err
+	return shared.Append(s, tableData, types.AppendOpts{TempTableID: tableID})
 }
 
 func (s *Store) Merge(tableData *optimization.TableData) error {
diff --git a/clients/shared/append.go b/clients/shared/append.go
index 217758183..436e81976 100644
--- a/clients/shared/append.go
+++ b/clients/shared/append.go
@@ -23,9 +23,14 @@ func Append(dwh destination.DataWarehouse, tableData *optimization.TableData, op
 	}
 
 	// We don't care about srcKeysMissing because we don't drop columns when we append.
-	_, targetKeysMissing := columns.Diff(tableData.ReadOnlyInMemoryCols(), tableConfig.Columns(),
-		tableData.TopicConfig().SoftDelete, tableData.TopicConfig().IncludeArtieUpdatedAt,
-		tableData.TopicConfig().IncludeDatabaseUpdatedAt, tableData.Mode())
+	_, targetKeysMissing := columns.Diff(
+		tableData.ReadOnlyInMemoryCols(),
+		tableConfig.Columns(),
+		tableData.TopicConfig().SoftDelete,
+		tableData.TopicConfig().IncludeArtieUpdatedAt,
+		tableData.TopicConfig().IncludeDatabaseUpdatedAt,
+		tableData.Mode(),
+	)
 
 	createAlterTableArgs := ddl.AlterTableArgs{
 		Dwh:         dwh,
diff --git a/lib/destination/ddl/ddl.go b/lib/destination/ddl/ddl.go
index 72c193811..609aa2787 100644
--- a/lib/destination/ddl/ddl.go
+++ b/lib/destination/ddl/ddl.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 // It has a safety check to make sure the tableName contains the `constants.ArtiePrefix` key.
 // Temporary tables look like this: database.schema.tableName__artie__RANDOM_STRING(5)_expiryUnixTs
 func DropTemporaryTable(dwh destination.DataWarehouse, fqTableName string, shouldReturnError bool) error {
+	fmt.Println("dropping", fqTableName)
 	if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(fqTableName), constants.ArtiePrefix) {
 		sqlCommand := fmt.Sprintf("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS %s", fqTableName)
 		slog.Debug("Dropping temporary table", slog.String("sql", sqlCommand))