(2023) $52k trash can: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/06/20/the-pentagons-52000-trash-can/ https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/06/20/the-pentagons-5.

(2023) $52k trash can: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/06/20/the-pentagons-52000-trash-can/ https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/06/20/the-pentagons-5... > In 2020, the Pentagon paid Boeing over $200,000 for four of the trash cans, translating to roughly $51,606 per unit. In a 2021 contract, the company charged $36,640 each for 11 trash containers, resulting in a total cost of more than $400,000. The apparent overcharge cost taxpayers an extra $600,000 between the two contracts. > In another case, Lockheed Martin hiked the price of an electrical conduit for the P-3 plane as much as 14 fold, costing the Pentagon an additional $133,000 between 2008 and 2015. > Jamaica Bearings — a company that distributes parts manufactured by other firms — sold the Department of Defense 13 radio filters that had once cost $350 each for nearly $49,000 per unit in 2022. The apparent markup cost taxpayers more than $600,000 in extra fees. (2018) $10k toilet seat: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/the-air-forces-10000-toilet-cover/2018/07/14/c33d325a-85df-11e8-8f6c-46cb43e3f306_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/the-... > U.S. Air Force paid about $10,000 each to replace toilet seat covers on the C-5 Galaxy, a Vietnam-era military cargo plane that is still in service, at least three times and as recently as last year. (1985) $34,560 for 54 toilet covers ($640 each) by Lockheed: https://web.archive.org/web/20081017195946/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960748,00.html?iid=chix-sphere https://web.archive.org/web/20081017195946/http://www.time.c... > President Ronald Reagan held a televised news conference in 1987, where he held up one of these shrouds and stated: "We didn't buy any $600 toilet seat. We bought a $600 molded plastic cover for the entire toilet system." (1983) $435 hammer (supposedly an accounting error): https://sci-hub.se/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41635361 https://sci-hub.se/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41635361 > Questioning the $435 cost, the chief petty officer made agency inquiries. This led to several agency investigations and an audit conducted by the Naval Audit Service, which determined that the Gould contract contained "excess costs of about $729,000." The Pentagon responded by issuing a public announcement that Gould had overcharged the Navy and that not only was the DoD seeking immediate repayment from Gould, but also that the DoD needed to make "major changes" in the way it procured spare parts. Although Gould believed that the Navy's audit was flawed, it agreed to make a good faith repayment of $84,000 in August 1983 to appease the DoD.