LETTER: Does crime pay?
Your Nov. 15 story “When Criminals Don’t Pay” was a good piece. Years ago, we had an employee who stole maybe $15,000 from us, was caught and convicted and was supposed to make restitution in some sort of monthly payments. I think we saw maybe a couple hundred dollars over the next year and then nothing. So your story rings true.
Over 40 years in business I’ve learned that it’s nearly impossible to collect money from those who don’t want to pay up. They dodge for a while and, if it’s an amount that’s worth collecting, even if you get a legal judgment against them, you’re usually behind a bunch of others such as the IRS and the state. Or they file bankruptcy and one is out of luck.
There’s a reason a lot of places have tight credit policies. We were in the wholesale food business and used to say that we give credit only to those who don’t need it.