Who is the most progressive in the book business?

Of all the players in the book publishing chain, methinks government institutions are the most progressive. Consider this.
In January, I got an LPO to supply books to a public institution. I delivered the books early February. In early April, the institution sent money, by Electronic Cash Transfer, to the company account. That is scenario one. Scenario two. In 2010, I travelled 300 kilometers to deliver books to a bookshop after numerous correspondences by email. Three months later, I emailed severally to inquire about the progress of the sales. No response. In December, I heard from the bookshop. They had sent me a Christmas card.
Scenario three. In 2009, I went to a bookshop in Nairobi and asked if they would stock Terrorists of The Aberdare. The manager said: "Give us a sample copy and one week." One week later, the ordered 16 copies, which was fair enough. The following year, after publishing Different Colours, we sold 16 copies to a foreign institution based in Nairobi. A day later, I went to the same Nairobi bookshop and asked the same question. The manager said: "Give us a sample copy and one week". A week later, he said: "Sorry, we are not interested".
But this is not just an affliction among booksellers. In 2005, I submitted a manuscript with a publisher. Five years later, I submitted the same manuscript to another publisher. A year later, the second publisher calls and says: "Please come and have a look at the dummies. We are going to press at 2 pm". He had called at noon. I called the first publisher to withdraw the manuscript.
"You can't," he said. "And why not?" I asked. "Because it is being printed as we speak," he said.
"But I have not seen the dummies and we have not signed a contract!" I protested. "We are very sorry,"he said.
"We forgot to inform you." Of course, I had to call the second publisher to apologise and call off the deal. Scenario four. A month ago, I got a call from a fellow writer.
"I have just come from some government office (name withheld) and they have a list of ten books they want to look at and some of them are yours but they don't know where to get you. Please get in touch with them."
The prospect is promising.
And it came just like that!