&gt; The irrational bit of that whole argument to me is that they are effectively trying to keep &#x27;the lights on&#x27; when their customers can no longer use overstock anyway.<p>Actually, it makes some sense (ignoring any irrationality in the fear itself): <i>if</i> its a fairly short-term problem that seems recoverable, you preserve your staff relations, and are ahead of competitors who either collapsed or wound down and now have to wind back up.<p>If its a longer-term problem, you have a hoard of valuables, a body of workers you can pay with those valuables, and you can pivot to a new business model. The initial set of workers may not be ideal for whatever that new model <i>is</i> (&quot;warlords of Utah&quot;?), but, again, you start out ahead of those that haven&#x27;t prepared, and have some cushion to manage a transition.