When FedEx Can't Deliver

When FedEx Can't Deliver

By Jessica Church

The Challenge 

Deadlines in the legal world are never ending.  Whether it's discovery productions, or trial requirements, there always seems to be a tight deadline at hand, with little room for error. 

In January we were working closely with a client on a project through the weekend to prepare for a trial date they had coming up in Kansas City.  This particular case involved over 42,000 pages of paper that were needed in court on Monday morning as trial exhibits.

As with most litigation, decisions and adjustments were being made right up until the very last minute.  Understanding that this is the nature of our business, we have several processes in place to help increase efficiency and facilitate the meeting of tight deadlines.  One of these includes our in-house print production facility, which is capable of printing productions up to a million pages or more. This was a relatively small production of only 14 boxes of paper. Due to the short deadlines, however, the client opted to reduce their risk by having our team and facilities print the production and have it delivered to their hotel in Kansas City where they had set up a make-shift war room for the trial.

We had the production printed and ready to go on Saturday evening and everything scheduled for delivery, with FedEx same day delivery service on Sunday. Schedules were tight, but things were moving quickly and it looked like it was all going to line up.

There was only one problem. As the production was finishing up on Saturday night, a heavy snow storm moved into the southeastern U.S. and completely shut down the city of Greensboro and most of North Carolina.  It was a project manager's worst nightmare. When we woke up Sunday morning the skies were clearing, but the snow was deep. The roads were closed, and our fears were confirmed;  FedEx same-day service wasn't delivering.

We quickly began looking for any possible solution and researching all our options. We had people calling every airline at every airport in the area, but nothing was moving. The storm had shut down all flights in and out of all the airports in the state, and the roads were just too treacherous to try and drive it there in time. There was only one option left―fly it there ourselves.

The Solution

One of the unique differentiators we have at TCDI is the use of two small business aircraft that help us save time and money to meet our clients' needs more efficiently.  We traditionally use our aircraft to travel to a client to provide user training, pick up client data for processing, or get to a client quickly to provide onsite support when things really heat up.  On this particular day, we needed to find a way to fit 14 boxes of paper on the aircraft and get them to Kansas City that day!

We contacted our pilots to explain the situation and see if something like this could be done.  Was there any hope of getting out of here despite all the news on TV of the airports being closed?  The pilots quickly ran a weight and balance calculation and came back with the good news that we could fit the boxes in the plane and run them to Kansas City.  The bad news was that although the airport cleared the runways, the ramps were still buried in snow and the planes were buried in a hanger, which was why the airlines and FedEx weren’t moving.

Without any hesitation several TCDI folks immediately headed to the airport in their four-wheel drive vehicles, shovels in hand, determined to get the plane off the ramp and into the air.  Crews spent the entire morning digging and plowing, pushing and pulling, doing everything they could to help get the job done.  By noon we managed to successfully break through and get our plane airborne.

Once we landed in Kansas City, we loaded the boxes in a car and drove to the hotel to deliver the production right to the client's door step. To the client, it was as if everything had gone as planned.

Summary

This was not one of our biggest clients by any means, but it felt like one of our biggest wins ever. It's a great example of how we always go the extra distance to exceed expectations and why TCDI is always going above and beyond to find ways to do things for our partners that no one else can.