Interesting discussion going on below about bad check writers. But bad checks are just a tiny fraction of the whole bad debt problem. Debtors who simply refuse to pay their bills rather than write bad checks to cover them are protected from public exposure by a raft of laws that don't protect bad check writers.

Until I went into business for myself, I never imagined how many people there are who just flat refuse to pay -- from a $5 classified ad to a $500 full page. They ignore letters, won't return phone calls, avoid process servers and skip court dates. And there's very little businesses can do to expose them. Obviously, it isn't just an Outpost problem: Just look at court dockets. Bad debt is what keeps the court system at work.

It's especially tough on businesses like ours that have to give credit and can't repossess advertising once it has appeared in the paper. I've been tempted to run anti-ads for deadbeats, something along the lines of "Previous claims of superior quality and service by Thus & So Inc. are hereby retracted. The Outpost regrets any inconvenience to customers who may have been misled by these claims."

Obviously, some people intend to pay their bills and just get in over their heads. Others, clearly, never intend to pay. The mystery to me is what goes on inside their heads. Morally, I have trouble seeing much distinction between someone who breaks into my store and steals cash from the till and someone who reneges on a promise to pay for services. Yet there are far more deadbeats than burglars. I wonder what accounts for the difference? Cowardice? Laziness? Or is there a moral distinction that I'm not getting?