Nearly 30 years ago, Ron Henderson found his niche in the check protection industry business, working business-to-business as a distributor for the Paymaster Corp. in Seattle, Washington. During this time, he honed his skills in direct sales and learned to service, maintain and repair the manual machines that imprint the dollar amount into the paper fibers of a check. Even though his customer base quickly grew to include 300 small- to medium-sized businesses, Henderson began to feel limited by the company guidelines that prohibited sales of other check protectors.

This frustration brought Henderson to eastern Washington and to a new career level when in 1980 he landed a job as an independent agent for Hall-Welter, a manufacturer for the Speedrite check writer company. The new venture allowed him to take ownership of his first company, United Check Protectors or UCP Financial Equipment Co., which offers service for Burroughs, Paymaster, Hedman and Speedrite machines. Within two years his customer-base, primarily in Washington, Alaska and British Columbia, rose from 100 to 500.

This expansion continued when in 1984 Henderson returned to Mississippi where his parents lived. The word about UCP’s quality products and service traveled fast and within a short time, hundreds of businesses located in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, became loyal customers. However, the 1990s brought new challenges—check protection in the age of technology. Enter Wycom, a computerized check writing and signing system. This machine allows a check to be created on blank check stock and printed on a laser printer. The dollar amount is in raise-proof graphics, complete with signature and mica encoding, which offers counterfeit protection by preventing alteration and forgery. An expert in check protection, Henderson discovered that something was missing, a method of imprinting a business’s name. To fill this need, he invented a counterfeit perforator, a device that imprints the name of the business into a check, similar to that of a company seal or Notary stamp. This adaptation must be installed during the machine’s assembly.

Today, Henderson continues to expand his business and his family. He is a devoted husband and father of three children, and six grandchildren.

His customer base includes more than fifty banks, in addition to credit unions, mortgage companies, real estate agencies, schools, universities, cities, states and municipal governments. In an effort to provide total service to his growing customer base, Henderson now offers currency counters, coin counters, paper shredders, encoders, toner cartridges, all related financial equipment, and more.

Moving into the e-commerce business, Henderson opened a new division of his corporation, statecontract.net. This store offers a full range of items, including furnishings, paper products, janitorial supplies, and more, to individuals, businesses, churches and agencies interested in purchasing products in bulk.

Finding success in today’s market place requires a man with vision. Henderson is tireless in his efforts to bring new ideas and services to his customers.

"This is an exciting business," said Henderson. "I am in direct contact with my customers, some that I have done business with for more than two decades. They have become like family to me. These relationships will continue to grow and I look forward to our future."

FINANCIAL EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE

• Paper shredders by PacMate, Intimus, Destroyit

• Currency counters by Billcon, Hedman, Toyocom

• Coin counters by Billcon, JCM, Scancoin

• Paper drills and corner rounders by Spinnit, Lassco

• Encoders by Standard Register, Encoders USA, Maverick

• Check protectors by Speedrite, Paymaster, Burroughs, Hedman, Standard Register

• Check signers by Paymaster, Standard Register, Hedman, Martin Yale

OFFICE SUPPLIES

• Toner cartridges

• Printer ribbons

• Printing paper

• Furniture, office and church

• Janitorial supplies and paper products

• Everything except the kitchen sink