$16 Muffins, $10 cookies.. who's to blame?

[Chicken Fried]

Depends on location. If a majority of the attendees are local, then they are saving many hundreds of $ per attendee by not travelling and incurring accommodation.

I'm not a fan of wasteful conferences, but at least you know the attendees aren't sitting in their office surfing Extremeskins. :pfft:

Yeah they're just talking about how they wish they were surfing ES right now haha.

[SnyderShrugged]

How strange that we worry about muffins and cookies, when we dont bat an eye at dropping trillions on never ending, so-called "war" and bottomless pit Federal programs that bring no substantial value.

[Thiebear]

Having done conferences myself:

Are you telling us that the coordinator couldn't call 3 hotels in the same area and find out which one wanted them more providing a better price?

This is just a sympton of the overall problem. Not my money, not my problem.

[Bang]

How strange that we worry about muffins and cookies, when we dont bat an eye at dropping trillions on never ending, so-called "war" and bottomless pit Federal programs that bring no substantial value.

I worried about muffins and cookies because I think a great deal of "waste' that we hate the government for is caused by citizens just like us, who when presented with an opportunity to work with the government, decides to bleed every marked up penny out of it they can.

The wars have their own issues with this. It's one thing to pay for the acual war,, but the billions wasted by paying contractors to do ****ty work (or no work and just pocket the money) is a huge rampant problem.

I think if we began to closely audit everyone who contracts with the government, we can eliminate more waste then any of them target with their dumbass graphs and charts and 'class warfare" speeches. We start prosecuting people who rip off the government and maybe we get someplace.

People who blanketly assign blame to the government for their waste seem to stop wondering about waste as soon as it is labelled as such. Where'd it go?

In this case it went to quadruple priced muffins and cookies and crackerjack.

I wonder if the hotel that sold them these ridiculously marked up items think it's wasteful?

A few people made out, and most likely they'll be screaming about 'waste' as well.

We pretend to be a "country".. indivisible, blah blah blah

and it seems to me we're all just out for ourselves and most of us will **** over all of it for a few dollars.

~Bang

[tdigle]

Do you want the federal government holding meetings at the Holiday Inn and having someone drop off some McDonald's? I've worked with event planning before and if you go anywhere nice things are incredibly expensive. They tend to include service costs and the like though so I doubt the muffins were actually 16 per muffin. They tend to have a fee for serving food for a room of a certain size. For instance 50 people for breakfast is $X. Included in that is set up, clean up, and food even if it's not consumed.

I bet the muffins sucked. They usually do.

Wait, what's wrong with holding meetings at the Holiday Inn? The last time I checked, Holiday Inn is right up there with the likes of Sheraton, Radisson, and Hilton, not dwelling at the bottom with the likes of Super 8 and Red Roof Inn. The DOJ doesn't need to have conferences at the Waldorf-Astoria.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Come on Bang they can't very well put the words "hooker" or "escort" on the billing slip.

[Destructis]

You don't get enough from just reading the article. I would like to see the actual PO the DOJ used and the invoice that was created against it. I do work at a place that handles conferences and deal with government PO's all the time. Many times things look worse because of the wording of the Purchase Order. I am not saying that I feel what was spent was appropriate, I am saying there isn't enough information in the article give the facts of issue.

It's not like reporters sensationalize things to sell more papers or anything like that.

[Ghost of]

They tend to include service costs and the like though so I doubt the muffins were actually 16 per muffin. They tend to have a fee for serving food for a room of a certain size. For instance 50 people for breakfast is $X. Included in that is set up, clean up, and food even if it's not consumed.

I thought of this too. I'm all for believing a good "waste" story but that's how I took it, that there was a charge and it 'came to' this cost.

[Destructis]

I thought of this too. I'm all for believing a good "waste" story but that's how I took it, that there was a charge and it 'came to' this cost.

This is exactly right. That's why I said I would like to see the PO for the wording. It's also more than service costs. Wireless internet, etc.

[Dan T.]

So the muffins weren't $16 after all.

Hilton Worldwide, the contractor in question for the Washington conference issued a statement that countered the IG report:"The contracted breakfast included fresh fruit, coffee, juice, muffins, tax and gratuity, for an inclusive price of $16 per person."

The Hilton statement went on to say that the IG inspectors misinterpreted receipts: "Dining receipts are often abbreviated and do not reflect the full pre-contracted menu and service provided, as is the case with recent media reports of breakfast items approved for some government meetings."

http://news.yahoo.com/16-muffins-no-says-hilton-004116135.html

[Corcaigh]

So the muffins weren't $16 after all.

Hilton Worldwide, the contractor in question for the Washington conference issued a statement that countered the IG report:"The contracted breakfast included fresh fruit, coffee, juice, muffins, tax and gratuity, for an inclusive price of $16 per person."

The Hilton statement went on to say that the IG inspectors misinterpreted receipts: "Dining receipts are often abbreviated and do not reflect the full pre-contracted menu and service provided, as is the case with recent media reports of breakfast items approved for some government meetings."

http://news.yahoo.com/16-muffins-no-says-hilton-004116135.html

So the IG should investigate themselves for wasting taxpayer dollars for writing erroneous reports that could be corrected with a 30 second phone call to a supplier.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Hilton Worldwide, the contractor in question for the Washington conference issued a statement that countered the IG report:"The contracted breakfast included fresh fruit, coffee, juice, muffins, escorts, tax and gratuity, for an inclusive price of $16 per person."

So the IG should investigate themselves for wasting taxpayer dollars for writing erroneous reports that could be corrected with a 30 second phone call to a supplier.

Seriously, how did you not catch one of the itemized services!?!?!