Rush Jobs: 
The New Reality

RECENTLY AN item was posted on the IPMA listserv entitled "Rush Jobs." The posting pointed out the headaches caused by constantly shrinking deadlines. There were quite a number of responses to the original posting. It is a subject all of us deal with on a regular basis.

So what were some of the points brought out in this discussion?

• Rush work is often the result of poor planning on the customer's part. And the turnaround times demanded are getting shorter and shorter.
• Proofing delays by the customer are a major cause of rush work headaches.
• Short turnaround dates are sometimes overstated by the customers in order to get a built-in margin of safety.
• Customers demand a rush turnaround date and then leave the finished job sitting for a day or two after the "deadline." This is particularly hard on in-plant morale, in addition to the routine stress associated with producing rush jobs.
• Shouldn't we be able to charge overtime or rush charges for these jobs?
• Ultimately we have little choice but to try our best to meet these rush deadlines since there are typically hungry commercial printers out there willing to turn the job around.

So what conclusions can we draw? Of course, there is no single solution. For one thing, in-plants vary considerably in terms of policies, equipment, capabilities, etc. But I did get the sense there was some level of agreement among the various responses on this hot topic. Allow me to offer my thoughts.

Is It Just Poor Planning?

I don't believe that rush work is always the result of poor planning by the customer. What I do believe is that the latest information is the most accurate information. And who wants to print information that is inaccurate? Often, decisions can't be made until late in the game. This means our time to produce a printed piece is sliced down to nothing. But it is either that or don't print it at all. Personally I'll take the rush work (since I can't retire yet).

Should you charge extra for rush jobs? Typically this doesn't work very well. One reason is that a rush job one week might not be a rush job the following week due to a lighter workload in the plant. It doesn't seem reasonable to charge a rush charge one time and not the next for the same turnaround request. And when exactly does a short-turnaround job become a "rush charge" job? This is an ever-changing continuum with numerous factors impacting your interpretation. So accurately and clearly writing a "once and for all rush charge policy" would be just about impossible, in my opinion. But some of your customers will expect to know how you determine rush charges. The truth is that it is too subjective to safely put into writing.

The punishment business

Also, a rush charge can feel like a punitive measure for our customers. "Well, shouldn't it be?!" shout some production folks. Getting in the punishment business with your customers is simply not advisable, especially in these times of reduced printing demand. As noted earlier, there are plenty of hungry commercial printers with idle presses and employees these days; they would be very willing to take this work on.

One thing we have implemented is to add the actual overtime expense incurred by our employees to the job's charge. Not charging time and a half for the hourly press or folder rates, rather charging the employee's actual wage at time and a half. This keeps your operation from incurring the true cost of the overtime but it is not so burdensome an amount for your customer to pay. We've done this rarely, but there have been a few rush jobs where we felt justified charging it. The customer was O.K. with this charge too. Most customers who are in a genuine jam on their turnaround date will pay a reasonable additional amount to meet the deadline.

As noted earlier, it is still tricky to charge, since it is a judgment call due to varying workloads. If you charge a customer a rush charge for a four-day turnaround one month and then turn a similar job the following month in three days without a rush charge, most will wonder what the heck is going on.

I think it is safer to assume rush work is pretty much the standard anymore. It is our task to make as many of these deadlines as possible. That means unexpectedly changing your production line-up (as well as bindery and press equipment settings; having to do more press wash ups; etc.) in the morning, something no one enjoys doing. But never let your folks forget: at least you still have work to produce. If you took rush work out of our plant, about half of our employees would have to go along with it.

Proofing Delays

Turning the proof for a rush job is the customer's responsibility. And this is strictly a communication issue for us. The customer must be made aware of the absolute necessity of returning the proof quickly in order to meet their deadline. Some customers get it and cooperate, and a few may not.

Also, sometimes the proof turnaround is out of the hands of the person you are working with on the job. For instance, at our university we may get the complete understanding and cooperation from our customer (say a graphic designer or editor) but they, in turn, don't get the complete cooperation of their customer (say a chancellor, dean or vice president). I don't know about your place of work, but I don't even want to imagine a conversation like this taking place:

Customer (to the university chancellor): "You will need to read this proof in the next 20 minutes or Printing Services says we cannot make our deadline for this job."

Chancellor: "Well, I have two state senators in my office at the moment so I guess we need to find a new printer."

The point here is not that we don't need proofs back in a timely manner; indeed we do. Sometimes checking a rush proof just isn't the highest priority for the administration at your parent organization. Yes, your in-plant will get beaten bloody if you don't make the due date. But no, returning the proof still isn't their highest priority.

To be sure, this sort of situation is a rare occurrence. Most of the time, if we communicate very clearly our proof turnaround needs with our customers, we get excellent cooperation. After all, they want their deadline met as much as (and probably more than) we do.

Most of our customers avoid this problem by having their copy approved early in the design process. They have learned long ago not to put a boss in the position of editing a hot proof "this instant" or missing a deadline.

Rush, Rush...Wait

Then there are the customers who don't bother to pick up their supposedly "hot" jobs on time. It's a rarity but it does happen sometimes. And boy, when it does, credibility for rush work seems to bottom out. Why did we bust our humps getting that job finished when they really didn't even need it?

There is no satisfying answer to that question. But there is reality: the customer paid us to produce the job, we didn't pay them. Was there a valid reason for them not to pick up the finished rush job? Maybe and maybe not (most likely not). But in my experience it doesn't pay to snoop into a customer's business. Such things should not be reacted to and are best forgotten. This is one of the critical roles of management: keep your employees from getting angry at your customers. It is a slippery slope that will only lead to ruin.

Some Relief

Soft proofing has become a big time saver for many of us. What used to require arranging four or five trips to and from the customer's office to your plant can be reduced to a few clicks on the computer. Sure, a final printed proof is often still necessary, but the multiple conventional proofs (and time associated with these proofs) needed to get to this final proof have been eliminated.

Also the whole realm of digital printing has reduced turnaround time on shorter runs. We all know that fact. But our digital color printer has baled us out of some serious four-color rush jams lately (think holiday greeting cards). I feel very fortunate we have such technology available to us.

And last, I do believe the key to dealing with rush work is communication and more communication. Talk to your customer early about such things as proofing schedules; change from a mill order paper; drop outside foil stamping just this once; eliminate that giant blue solid in order to help us make your date.

Internal communication is required as well. Rush work is our new reality. Get your folks to accept it and understand that the customer isn't the enemy. Certainly they can be aggravating at times, but aggravating or not, we simply can't exist without them.