Wholesalers who show "In Stock" on parts on their online ordering portal, but then when you turn up say "oh yeah nah they're not actually in stock, they need to come from " need to receive daily wedgies until this practice stops. It is infuriating.
I specifically use the online ordering stuff because I'm typically doing my parts orders after hours and rely on the stock level being halfway accurate, but it seems to be about an 80% strike rate of "in stock!" against a particular branch actually meaning "in stock.... somewhere in Australia, or maybe overseas? We don't actually know but probably we can get it for you before the end of the year".
It's some bullshit sales tactic taught in Sales Rep Wankery 101 or something - "Lie to your customers, then once they've placed the order... POW!... hit 'em with the old yeah nah but by now they're committed so their money is yours bwahhaha. Promise first, worry about delivering later."