The other day I received a call from someone who was keen to talk about a notorious individual from print's past.

The individual in question, let's call him Gary, used to buy print using his own special set of terms and conditions. Such were the strictures in said terms that printers would inevitably find themselves unpaid after unwittingly falling foul of Gary's small print in one way or another.

Having long ago exhausted the supply of potential print victims it seems he has moved on to other areas of business. But he's still keen to implement his own very special terms. Surprise!

This interlude called to mind another recent conversation with someone from a large-scale print business, who was bemoaning being subject to some rather toppy customer compensation payments in the case of late deliveries.

The gist of the conversation was that such terms might have been acceptable in the long ago and far away days when printers of his ilk were making a decent margin. But with the current market rates in his sector they are neither justifiable nor sustainable. Yet someone has agreed to this onerous provision.

With spring in the air (well, when it's not snowing), why not take a duster to any T&Cs that could do with a bit of judicious cleaning up?