In 1988 the false inventory was again created by packaging bricks as inventory.
This year, however, they were not shipped out to distributors then later recalled. At
year-end the company was shipping products to customers that had not yet made
orders. This is often referred to as channel stuffing and the company will often then
make good offers to customers to keep the goods. However, in at least one case,
boxes of bricks were shipped out to a customer by mistake. When the company
realized that bricks had been shipped, they called the freight company and asked that
the shipment be returned. However, the shipment had already left the Longmont area
and the freight company refused to return the shipment. When the shipment arrived at
customer’s location, they accepted the shipment and realized they didn’t need some of
the inventory that had been shipped. When they opened the box they discovered that
a brick was in the box instead of a hard drive. This customer did not call the company
to report what they had found, but rather called the United States Justice Department
to report what they been shipped.