diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 25baeb2..ef83f98 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     <groupId>com.stimulussoft</groupId>
     <artifactId>filequeue</artifactId>
     <name>file queue project</name>
-    <version>1.3.0</version>
+    <version>1.4.0</version>
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
     <description>Light weight, high performance, simple, reliable and persistent queue</description>
     <url>https://github.com/stimulussoft/filequeue</url>
@@ -232,6 +232,11 @@
             <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
             <version>${jackson}</version>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype</groupId>
+            <artifactId>jackson-datatype-jsr310</artifactId>
+            <version>${jackson}</version>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
             <artifactId>guava</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueue.java b/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueue.java
index 1530faf..c225b7d 100755
--- a/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueue.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueue.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 package com.stimulussoft.filequeue;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.stimulussoft.filequeue.processor.Consumer;
@@ -370,6 +371,19 @@ public int getMaxQueueSize() {
             return builder.getMaxQueueSize();
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Set a custom {@link ObjectMapper} to use for serializing and deserializing {@link FileQueueItem}
+         * @param objectMapper ObjectMapper instance
+         * @return config configuration
+         */
+        public Config objectMapper(ObjectMapper objectMapper) {
+            builder.objectMapper(objectMapper);
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        public ObjectMapper getObjectMapper() {
+            return builder.getObjectMapper();
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessor.java b/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessor.java
index 9642d8e..0c51257 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessor.java
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public enum RetryDelayAlgorithm {FIXED, EXPONENTIAL}
         if (builder.queuePath == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("queue path must be specified");
         if (builder.type == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("item type must be specified");
         if (builder.consumer == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("consumer must be specified");
-        objectMapper = createObjectMapper();
+        objectMapper = Optional.ofNullable(builder.objectMapper).orElse(createObjectMapper());
         if (!objectMapper.canSerialize(objectMapper.constructType(builder.type).getClass()))
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("The given type is not serializable. it cannot be serialized by jackson");
         this.queueName = builder.queueName;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessorBuilder.java b/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessorBuilder.java
index 411dbbc..b0fff0f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessorBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/processor/QueueProcessorBuilder.java
@@ -270,6 +270,10 @@ public QueueProcessorBuilder objectMapper(ObjectMapper objectMapper) {
         return this;
     }
 
+    public ObjectMapper getObjectMapper() {
+        return this.objectMapper;
+    }
+
     public <T1 extends T> QueueProcessor build() throws IOException, IllegalStateException, IllegalArgumentException, InterruptedException {
         return new QueueProcessor<>(this);
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueueTest.java b/src/test/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueueTest.java
index 43a1a08..d002df5 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueueTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/stimulussoft/filequeue/FileQueueTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 package com.stimulussoft.filequeue;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationFeature;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.json.JsonMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype.jsr310.JavaTimeModule;
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import com.google.common.io.MoreFiles;
 import com.google.common.io.RecursiveDeleteOption;
@@ -12,13 +15,17 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.File;
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.NotDirectoryException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.concurrent.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.SynchronousQueue;
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
@@ -107,6 +114,50 @@ public void testWithoutRetries() throws Exception {
         MoreFiles.deleteDirectoryContents(db, RecursiveDeleteOption.ALLOW_INSECURE);
 
     }
+    @Test
+    public void testItemWithJava8DateTimeWithRetries() throws Exception {
+        String queueName = "testItemWithJava8DateTimeWithoutRetries";
+        Path db = setup("filequeue test java8 datetime with retries", queueName, producedTestWithRetries, processedTestWithRetries);
+        retryTestWithRetries.clear();
+
+        MoreFiles.deleteDirectoryContents(db, RecursiveDeleteOption.ALLOW_INSECURE);
+        FileQueue<FileQueueItem> queue = FileQueue.fileQueue();
+        FileQueue.Config config = FileQueue.config(queueName, db, TestFileQueueItemWithDateTime.class, new TestRetryConsumer2(), executorService)
+                .maxQueueSize(MAXQUEUESIZE).maxTries(RETRIES)
+                .retryDelay(RETRYDELAY).retryDelayUnit(RetryDelayTimeUnit).persistRetryDelay(1);
+
+        JsonMapper jsonMapper = JsonMapper.builder()
+                .findAndAddModules()
+                .addModule(new JavaTimeModule())
+                .disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES)
+                .build();
+
+        config.objectMapper(jsonMapper);
+
+        queue.startQueue(config);
+        Assert.assertEquals(queue.getConfig().getMaxTries(), RETRIES);
+        Assert.assertEquals(queue.getConfig().getRetryDelay(), RETRYDELAY);
+        Assert.assertEquals(queue.getConfig().getRetryDelayUnit(), RetryDelayTimeUnit);
+
+        // we will use a thread pool here to test if queueItem() method is thread-safe.
+        ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(6);
+        for (int i = 0; i < ROUNDS; i++) {
+            final int no = i;
+            executor.execute(() -> {
+                producedTestWithRetries.incrementAndGet();
+                try {
+                    queue.queueItem(new TestFileQueueItemWithDateTime(no, ZonedDateTime.now()), 1, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                    fail("failed push items with 60 seconds");
+                }
+            });
+        }
+        done(queue, producedTestWithRetries, processedTestWithRetries, retryTestWithRetries, ROUNDS);
+        executor.shutdown();
+        queue.stopQueue();
+        MoreFiles.deleteDirectoryContents(db, RecursiveDeleteOption.ALLOW_INSECURE);
+    }
+
 
     @Test
     public void testWithRetries() throws Exception {
@@ -391,6 +442,26 @@ public Integer getId() {
 
     }
 
+    static class TestFileQueueItemWithDateTime extends TestFileQueueItem {
+        ZonedDateTime dateTime;
+
+        public TestFileQueueItemWithDateTime() {
+        }
+
+        public TestFileQueueItemWithDateTime(Integer id, ZonedDateTime dateTime) {
+            super(id);
+            this.dateTime = dateTime;
+        }
+
+        public ZonedDateTime getDateTime() {
+            return dateTime;
+        }
+
+        public void setDateTime(ZonedDateTime dateTime) {
+            this.dateTime = dateTime;
+        }
+    }
+
 
     /* Implement Throwable Queue Item */