But it's still gone [OT] Re: [FT] Robot workers

***
Sometimes it's because of unfortunate quantity break points.  When I
sold
plastics, a Marine air base used to buy one part from us every few
months,
about $100.50 a shot including a set up charge of $100.  We explained to
them that they should buy a bunch at once rather than pay the set up
charge
each time, but they weren't authorized, so they bought, say, 5
individually
at $505 rather than in a group at $102.50.  That was the Marine Corps;
the
Navy did the same sort of thing, though.
***

Ah, the blessed warm fuzzies of that word: authorized.

Ergo, Admiral Hopper's aphorism on the preference to asking forgiveness
over seeking permission.

Natch, more than a few of us here probably assume your department DID
make
up a dozen or so the first time, and charged the set up fee anyway. It
would also be some kind of commentary on human nature if, amongst the
rest
of us, there are those that think 'Why didn't they?'