Teeth in? Or teeth out?

Once upon a time, I was a naive new business owner who thought everybody paid their bills. That was back when we started printing the magazine Heartland Outdoors. As part of the purchase, we inherited a stack of past-due invoices.

I figured a few weeks of tracking down non-payers would end that problem. But non-payers have never disappeared, even as we moved on from the magazine to our current weekly newspapers. Lately, unpaid debt has reached a level that has raised my ire and rekindled memories of past collection forays.

One such expedition ranged far and wide across Illinois and included an associate who would ask at each stop, “Teeth in or teeth out?” His reasoning was that he looked tougher with his false teeth out, which would help if we needed intimidation to loosen purse strings.

That proved unecessary. When you show up at somebody’s door with a bill, most people pay – even if barter is required. That’s why some customers paid with a new 15-hp boat motor, fishing rods and reels, lures, hats, hunting clothes and more. Unfortunately, that created more headaches, since we had to resell the stuff to get money.

Please understand, 90% of our advertisers are quick to pay and apologetic when an invoice is missed. Mistakes happen. Mail gets lost. Bills get misplaced. Life happens. That’s understandable.

But when people promise to pay and never follow through, that’s maddening. That’s also why smarter business owners get paid up front. So our policy in 2025 is to require payment in advance for obituaries, birthday ads, lost dogs, classifieds, political ads, single-run ads and from new customers. We will also charge interest on past-due accounts, since it costs us in manpower, postage and brain power to keep sending statements and making calls.

That’s also why between now and the end of January, I’ll spend time each week visiting the handful of folks whose bills are long past due.

I promise to keep my teeth in as you write out a check.

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Parting shot: A proposal to change the way non-boundaried schools are classified by enrollment for sporting events did not receive enough votes to make the all-school ballot the Illinois High School Association sent to schools this week. That’s a shame, because the IHSA’s current classification system for private and non-boundaried schools is not working. Look no further than this year’s football title games for proof.

Lena-Winslow, Maroa-Forsyth, Monticello and Mount Zion field top-tier public-schools programs, but all were routed in title games by non-boundaried schools that next year will likely be pushed up two classes. That change comes too late. Belleville Althoff should never be in Class 1A, nor should Lombard Montini compete in 3A. But they did this season because the IHSA’s “success factor” is flawed.

The only public winner in eight title games was East St. Louis in 6A. Cumulative score in the other games was 283-76 in favor of non-boundaried schools – whose membership accounts for just 10% of football schools that are playoff eligible.

But this is not limited to football. This fall, 17 of 30 state champions in 10 sports came from private or non-boundaried schools, even though those schools make up just 25% of the IHSA membership.
A disproportionate number of titles for non-boundaried schools is not a new development. Nor is the IHSA’s lack of a good answer.

Contact Jeff Lampe at (309) 231-6040 or jeff@wklypost.com