I have a story, and I’d like to see if the class can figure out the moral. A multinational air conditioning manufacturer owed my company 17ish thousand bucks, dating back to 2008. I kept sending statements, they kept ignoring them. I figured they were good for it but somebody was covering up either some accounting incompetence, or maybe even some fraud. So I started sending statements to the wrong divisions (actually I was trying to go upstairs on the corporate ladder) and they kept emailing me that I should send the stuff to the same so and so. I kept at it for awhile. Meanwhile, somebody in purchasing inquired about getting a new part. So I played along, gave them a price, made a few samples, and they finally placed an order for a whopping ten pieces. Sure, I tell ‘em, 6 weeks is plenty of lead time. Well, when the shipping date finally came I sent the purchaser an email saying sorry, I have to hold that order until the old invoices are resolved. And I /accidentally/ sent that email to every contact I had encountered in the last few months. (Oopsies!) Within two hours, I found out that there was a new contact in accounts payable, I received three request for quotes for that part from other rubber companies, and at the end of it, they wire transferred all the money to my bank account. After all this hysteria the parts didn’t have to go next day air, ground will do fine, thank you very much. So what’s the moral of the story?

I waaaaaaaay undercharged for those ten pieces. I have to confess the result took me by surprise, I hadn’t bothered making the ten pieces until after the money showed up!