Time is ticking… a critical mailing deadline looms… then you discover a calculation error that affects thousands of people. Who do you call?

Listening to the time-sensitive dilemma

A final audit revealed a calculation error affecting tens of thousands of settlement checks on the eve of mailing. What came next? Developing a strategy to ward off catastrophe.

During a last-minute review, our client — a project administrator and his team — discovered that they had made a significant calculation error resulting in an incorrect amount being paid in settlement checks… to tens of thousands of individuals.

The client called us in a panic. “No, the checks have not been mailed yet,” we explained. That was exactly the answer he was hoping to hear. Now we needed to act fast.

Less than 24 hours remained before checks had to be mailed. One thing was clear: missing or delaying a court-mandated delivery date of millions of dollars in settlement checks was unacceptable. Thousands of checks needed to be reprinted, inserted into envelopes, addressed and mailed… in less than one day.

Nobody ever said helping customers meet expectations was easy.

Understanding what was at stake

Failure to meet the mail date could have had major repercussions for our client: fines, a tarnished business reputation, even public backlash. But when it comes to checking for a last-minute solution, we never say “never.”

Many others might have said, “There’s just no way that job can be done again in one day.” But NPC responded, “Let’s see how we can rearrange our full production schedule to get this done for you.”

Immediately after hearing that achieving the mail date was possible, our client updated the data file with the correct payout amounts. He sent it over to NPC for immediate processing. The ball was now in our court. And the clock was ticking.

Delivering an expedited on-time solution

We called our teams together and explained the situation. Using our on-site printing capabilities to apply and embed numerous types of security features on security paper stock, we would be able to clear the first hurdle: the quick-turn reprint. Our data processing team updated the check payment amounts, then our production team reprinted the checks, inserted each into an envelope and ink-jetted the addresses.

The client was on call to perform proof approvals throughout our expedited production. Outgoing checks were placed directly into the U.S. Postal Service mail stream from our in-house USPS-certified mailing facility, eliminating the need to transfer mail to a U.S. Post Office. With a time crunch this critical, it was a much-needed time-saver.

By leveraging our 24/7 production schedule and flexible workforce, we were able to reprint and mail every check with the correct information. All in less than 24 hours. In the end, tens of thousands of people received their correct settlement checks, on time… as expected.