Pentagon payed nearly $1 million in shipping for two $0.19 washers.You think that's bad? This isn't the only occurrence of WAY over charging for shipping; far from it as Schlicken points out. But the $998,798 for two 19 cent washers takes the cake. This was done by one South Carolina company that discovered that when shipping to "priority" areas, payment was done automatically without so much as a glance at the receipt. So slowly, this company charged thousands then tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands to the government for things like a few screws. It ended up totaling about $20.5 million just from this one company when someone finally checked their purchasing records. The company was barred from federal contracts, all of their newly purchased things were auctioned off, and the owners will be jailed (probably for life). Hopefully the Pentagon will look out for over charging from now on (not likely).
2 comments:
It's ridiculous. It's hard not to blame the government for the oversight although the bigger issue may be the constant scandals within corporate America.
The revolving door is the problem. Free enterprise doesn't work when it's not competition but influence peddling that determines government contracts. Not to mention the no-bid contracts.
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