I don't think *to save a few bucks* was the case here. I did not choose to re-use the bearings. I promise you, when spending the money to re-gear and add ARB lockers... I sure wouldn't have cheaped out on bearings. I was advised that they were fine... and they had chosen to re-use them. Had they decided not to re-use them... i would have been charged for new ones. So they wouldn't have been saving anything. Either way - I wasn't trying to save money, nor were they. In hind sight, new ones probably should have been used. OR correct protocol for tightening (not as much if new ones aren't used) followed.
Thanks for your input here though... always appreciated!