Your tax dollars hard at work!

So I know everyone knows government has a tendency to overspend, but I figured I'd share with you all a direct example I experienced today.

Lets start with little a joke -
How many government employees does it take to change a light bulb?

None, they have a guy for that.

So yea today I'm sent a call for an in-operating beverage display case in a cafe at one of the government buildings in town. I get there, sign the login, and go check the cooler. Hmmm, cooler is at temp, so I go ask the manager what is the problem with it. She says, and I quote "the light burned out", after which I struggled to hold back from laughing. So I check it out, and granted it does take a special kind of bulb, but it's a bulb you can buy at home depot, which I did, then returned and put it in.

Basically the manager could have driven to home depot and bought the bulb for $20, pulled the old one out and popped the new one in. $20 + an hour of a salaried managers labor is what this should have costed.

Here's the breakdown of what they actually spent -
2.5 hours labor @ $85/hour - $212.50
$20 light bulb we mark up - $80 (company policy is 4x our cost for parts)
Trip charge - $15

Total cost for the government to change a light bulb - $307.50!

I once talked to the head of an agency here about an idea I had about training the young to know what is expected of them at the job when they first went to work. It was a simple and free service I was going to do to teach the kids that they have to show up on time, call in when sick, and make sure they pay attention to what their employer is telling you to do. I trained about five or six young workers right out of school, it sucks, they haven't a clue what is required and think they do not need to produce, just show up. I was going to teach the kids about how an employer usually does not make much money training an employee, not in the real job sector anyway. They need to know that they have to climb the ladder, not expect big bucks from a small business that is in competition with other businesses till they are trained in.

So what did the government agency head say to me. He told me it was an excellent idea, if the government gets hold of this idea at the top, they will make it expensive, complicated, and tack hundreds of ideas onto it making it basically a failure. He had seen two or three good ideas like that turn into nightmares by the time the bigshots got their claws into it.

That was the end of that idea, I gave up on that idea, my insurance would have soared to insure students at my business location. I thought with approval from the government it could have been a five day class in the school, The school could do nothing without approval from the state and feds. I had about three other business owners who would have come in and taught these kids a bit about their work, they thought it was good if the kids would learn a little about this and were willing to teach the kids a little about their profession...for free. They were hoping to maybe get a good future employee out of the students by observing their attitudes and trying to make them know understand how their businesses worked.

Most employers around here do not get rich, they cannot provide the wages that other areas of the country give, the cost of living around here is pretty decently low, the wages are also not very high though. People cannot afford to pay a lot for people if there is not good efficient work being preformed. This is not a rich area.

Kids are being steered towards high paying technology jobs in college, the degree is kind of worthless, the kids could have gone to work at a decent job till they gained experience and figured what they really want to be. That happens after you hit around twenty something, not when you are eighteen. Meanwhile the kids gained experience at working and are ready to start on their way through school again, this time in a direction that they will like. I know a lot of people who got degrees in a field and they hate that kind of work. They are working regular jobs at gas stations and restaurants, there are no jobs in their field. The schools are conditioning our kids to go to school more and go into debt. Employers used to pay people to learn and if five years you already have started making decent money. So, many of the government agencies lower management know how messed up the government is at the top.

a reply to: Vector99

She was likely union labor, and it wasn't in her contract.

a reply to: Vector99

Nature of the beast!!

$307.50...yeah,theres been cut backs so they aren't paying as much these days.

a reply to: Vector99

I saw the same thing in a multi-national corp. Let me explain.

There was a 6-ton transformer- electrical switching array that needed a 3' wide X 10' long by 3' tall cement pad poured. So the facility maintenance guys attempted the pour on Monday-and did not have the forms so they "improvised" and they were quickly shoveling cement into wheel barrels due to "spillage".
Tuesday they did the same exact thing.
Weds they called a cement guy who formed it and poured it.
Can't quote the $$$ pissed away-but it was huge.

Waste is all around us.

I once worked for Coca-cola in cooler service and we would pick up the old coolers of all sorts. Very very collectable. Want to know where all those coolers went after we reclaimed the refrigerant?

Dumpsters.

Waste is all around us.


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originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: Vector99

$307.50...yeah,theres been cut backs so they aren't paying as much these days.

Well, the other light bulb will likely burn out soon as well.

Yes, I forgot to mention that, the case has TWO bulbs and was still lit up by the working one.

a reply to: seasonal

Waste is all around us.

You would be amazed at the amount of waste in the HVACR industry. Luckily though, most of it gets scrapped and recycled, not thrown in dumpsters.

You would be amazed at the amount of food that gets thrown out at many places that could get used at food banks or soup kitchens because of food regulations.

For example, food that came fresh off the BBQs at the American Royal competition has to be thrown out because they cannot verify it 100% through the handling chain even though people can buy passes and sample it if they wish. Nope. Can't donate that to food kitchens to distribute to the poor or homeless. Can't verify it through the chain! Might make someone ill.

a reply to: Vector99

I can almost guarantee the dumpsters were well picked at the recycle center. I still remember pushing one of these babies off the skid of a fork lift into the dumpster.

a reply to: Vector99

Total cost to change a light bulb in a government beverage dispenser- $307.50!

Must of been an older model, the current models use candlelight...

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Vector99

I can almost guarantee the dumpsters were well picked at the recycle center. I still remember pushing one of these babies off the skid of a fork lift into the dumpster.

That would have ended up in the back of my truck way before it hit the dumpster. If it's original it's worth thousands, even if it's a reproduction it's worth a lot!

a reply to: Vector99

This was a teamster warehouse/cooler service outfit.

The managers hated us-and it was reciprocated. There was very little that you could put in the truck with out getting canned.

It was a wasteful, wasteful organization.

a reply to: Vector99

I wish I could say I was surprised!

Nothing some government workers do would shock me anymore, unless it was logical.

a reply to: Vector99

Total cost for the government to change a light bulb - $307.50!

On the face of it, your point is valid...

But considering that much of that money is inevitably going to be taxed, and the rest will be flowing straight back into the economy when it is spent, it really makes it seem irrelevant.

a reply to: Vector99

Private bureaucracy is just as bad as the government. Back in 2011 I spent 5 days in hospital in Jersey City. They charged my insurance $182,000. That's practically more money that I will be able to save in my lifetime.

a reply to: Vector99

Sounds about right--I'm a federal employee, and we're basically barred from doing any sort of repairs, including changing most types of light bulbs. I assume that it has something to do with a few thing, but mostly with "safety," as it would cost a lot more than $307.50 to pay for the injuries of some dipsh*t who forgot to uplug the machine and slipped his finger into the bulb socket than to pay you to maintain the machine.

Like I said, I'm a federal employee--you really, REALLY don't want the majority of these employees attempting to do much of anything other than their specified job (and even then, that's iffy with many).

originally posted by: ketsuko
You would be amazed at the amount of food that gets thrown out at many places that could get used at food banks or soup kitchens because of food regulations.

I worked food for almost 20 years, the amount of people that don't take leftovers only to have half of their meal go in the trash was pretty significant. That's just customer waste, which pales in comparison to the amount the business itself wasted.

a reply to: SlapMonkey
I guess that makes sense, it's just insane though. At the rate I had to charge, all it takes is a couple hundred light bulbs a year to burn out to afford a qualified maintenance man at 30-40k a year. Hell even most of the fast food places we do work for have a handyman or 2 for their stores, they call us when the handyman can't fix it. I'm sure they save money that way.

originally posted by: Hazardous1408
a reply to: Vector99

Total cost for the government to change a light bulb - $307.50!

On the face of it, your point is valid...

But considering that much of that money is inevitably going to be taxed, and the rest will be flowing straight back into the economy when it is spent, it really makes it seem irrelevant.

The thing is though, the money that will be used to pay this bill IS tax money. I'd rather have that money go to fixing roads that have been under construction for more than a year, but are on hold due to lack of funding for the fiscal year. You know why they have a lack of funding?

They spend $300 friggin dollars to change a lightbulb!

a reply to: Vector99

correction: it cost the TAXPAYERS $307.50 to have a light bulb replaced in a government facility. but I`m used to it and not surprised since I live in one of the top 5 taxed states in the union, the state just announced that they are going to spend 21 million dollars to make bike lanes. I guess the politicians think that with the country only being 20 trillion in debt,21 million,borrowed dollars,for bike lanes is a good deal, right?