Article: Prompt Pay, Act II: Uncle Sam, Deadbeat; Hill to Crack Down on Late Payment of Bills

Last April, the Government Sales Division of Douron Inc. shipped $20,000 in chairs to a military base in the Azores. Ten months and dozens of international telephone calls, letters and duplicate invoices later, it got paid, without interest.

"People who have to lay out money for raw materials and labor, I wonder how they make it" when they sell to the government, said Joel B. Snyder, head of the accounting department for Douron, a commercial office sales company in Columbia, Md.

"We send every invoice certified mail, return receipt," said Jane Grossman, accounts receivable clerk with Interface Video Systems, a company that provides video services to the government. "It costs $1.60 but ...

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