[kenjackson]

But I do the null check all the time, and then skip the "Save", but have logic in the 'else' to do something like create an actual customer account.

The problem with the solution provided is that you get an exception, whether you can deal with it in the body or not. And unlike Lisp, you're going to unwind the stack at that point (or be in the catch). All in all, not happy with the proposed solution.

[munificent]

In your case, then, using "as" is the right thing to do.