How a Spate of Blunders by the Private Sector Screwed Over Consumers Last Month

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http://www.alternet.org/economy/its-been-very-bad-month-private-sector



The private sector has had a very bad month. Its most widely publicized failure occurred when UPS and FedEx fumbled their Christmas deliveries while the U.S. Postal Service scored a touchdown.

“An unlikely Star of the Holiday Shipping Season: The U.S. Postal Service” is how Business Week described the clear victory of the public over the private. “The government-run competitor was swamped with parcels just like UPS and FedEx were, with holiday package volume 19 percent higher than the same period late year. But there were no widespread complaints about tardy deliveries by USPS. The postal service attributes its success to meticulous planning.”

Less publicized but even more damning has been the spate of articles regarding the epidemic of snafus and high costs of private contractors. A recent Op Ed in the New York Times by David A. Super, Professor of Law at Georgetown University offered a litany of private contractor failings, including a flawed Colorado Benefits Management System that took four years to fix. When first implemented it reportedly refused food stamps to anyone who did not have a driver’s license from Guam! In mid October a contractor’s glitch made food stamps inaccessible to recipients in 17 states.

Then there was what the Times deemed a “disastrous rollout” of a privately created and managed system to oversee unemployment benefits in Florida by Deloitte Consulting. In December Florida penalized the contractor $6 million and begin fining it $15,000 a day until the problems are fixed. Privately managed systems from Massachusetts to California have experienced dramatic delays and enormous cost overruns.

[Snarkoleptic]

1. It's worth noting that those who are against government will sabotage it to prove it doesn't work.

"The best public servant is the worst public servant" seems to be their mantra and I can't help but hear it ringing in my head when I read of such SNAFU's.

...a flawed Colorado Benefits Management System that took four years to fix. When first implemented it reportedly refused food stamps to anyone who did not have a driver’s license from Guam! In mid October a contractor’s glitch made food stamps inaccessible to recipients in 17 states.

Then there was what the Times deemed a “disastrous rollout” of a privately created and managed system to oversee unemployment benefits in Florida by Deloitte Consulting. In December Florida penalized the contractor $6 million and begin fining it $15,000 a day until the problems are fixed. Privately managed systems from Massachusetts to California have experienced dramatic delays and enormous cost overruns.