Sorry mate but much as it pains me to admit it, the Git has it right

You never - ever - close a commercial deal without making sure that the counterparty is good for their end and it often happens that a deal is suspended on the mere suspicion that they may not be. Because they say they are doesn't count as due diligence.

An example in my most recent line of work (publishing) was when a major distributor looked like it was in financial trouble. The publishers all put them "on stop" meaning that no books would be supplied to them, and made efforts to retrieve inventory already supplied (the book trade works on a sale-or-return basis, unlike many other trades, so the book actually still belongs to the publisher until it's sold, not to the distributor or the bookshop). I actually saw a few of these situations; most ended sadly, but one ended well with the distributor making the right moves and surviving (to this day).

Posted By: Old Man, Nov 3, 09:55:20