Article from Fox News by Robert Gearty.
An air base’s penchant for pricey coffee cups has garnered the attention of a United States senator, who is demanding — and receiving — an explanation for the purchase of beverage tumblers that cost $1,280 each.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned the procurement in an Oct. 2 letter to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. Grassley’s letter cited a September 26 Fox News article reporting that in the past three years the 60th Aerial Squadron at Travis Air Force base in California purchased dozens of cups for nearly $56,000. The cups can reheat liquids on board the Air Force’s fleet of cargo aircraft.
The squadron reported that the cups have handles that break easily when dropped. Since replacement handles aren’t available, the whole cup has to be replaced. In 2016, the squadron said that it purchased 10 hot cups for $6,930 and that the price for each cup surged from $693 to $1,220 in 2018, resulting in a total expenditure of $32,000 for 25 cups. The math may have been off. That’s actually a price of $1,280 for each of the 25 cups.
…
She told Grassley that the Air Force has purchased 391 of these items at a total cost of $326,785 since 2016 — an average per-item cost of around $835.
Read the entire article at Fox News.
Image Credit: By Gerard van der Schaaf (05-5140) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
wpDiscuz
You can get that cheaper at BRCC; and save money while helping vets; so stop wasting money. Also, theirs don’t have have break-off handles! Try $50/cup instead of over $1K/cup! That’s obscene and insane both!
It must of been a coffee that ovomit had imported from Iran taking a special cup to gain more money for a nuke.
That’s the way the military works. Just like the rest of government it’s not their money so use it up , the tax payers can be gyped it of it though more taxes! Democrat style raise taxes and spend more!
There are coffee cups that will not brake for a lot less than those 1,000 dollar cups because they were metal and there could be plastic around the metal and a little insulation under the plastic.
ALSO there are cups with heaters installed under the plastic and insulation that would heat the coffee, like those 1,000 dollar cups and would not brake and cost a lot less.
I wonder if the Air Force ever heard of Walmart? 1,000 styrofoam cups for $30…. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Styrofoam-Drink-Cups-8-Oz-1-000-Count/15686286
Sure, they don’t have handles and aren’t metal or plastic, but I don’t think cups are critical for national defense…..
Maybe I should be given an officer rank and put in charge of logistics and supplies? Maybe give me oversight of Congressional spending too….? Seems like a bunch of orangutans with a keyboard are in charge.
(I apologize to any orangutans I may have offended.)