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Note 8
 3 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2013
Cash and Cash Equivalents Disclosure [Text Block]
8.  Cash represents cash deposited in checking accounts. Cash equivalents includes certificates of deposit, Treasury Bills and government money market funds with maturities of 90 days or less when purchased.  Our cash balances are held at a few financial institutions and may, at times, exceed insurable amounts.  We believe we help to mitigate this risk by depositing our cash in major financial institutions.  

Restricted cash and cash equivalents on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, totaled to $51.5 million and $64.2 million as of January 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively, which includes cash collateralizing our letter of credit agreements and facilities and is discussed in Note 10.  In addition, we collateralize our surety bonds with cash.  The balances of this surety bond collateral were $5.8 million and $6.2 million at January 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively, which were in cash equivalents, the book value of which approximates fair value.  The remaining balance represented customers’ deposits of $16.9 million and $27.3 million as of January 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively, which are restricted from use by us.

Total Customers’ deposits are shown as a liability on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. These liabilities are significantly more than the applicable years’ escrow cash balances because, in some states, the deposits are not restricted from use and, in other states, we are able to release the majority of this escrow cash by pledging letters of credit and surety bonds.