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From NBCnews: For little work, silent partner in coronavirus contract sold protective gear to U.S. for double the cost
This is why I get so angry at the news sometimes. This came up last night under a different headline with the company name in big print. First of all, the company involved (W. W. Grainger) is no silent partner. I guarantee you, their name is all over the paperwork required by the government. Second, anyone who knows anything about W. W. Grainger (mostly people who've worked in management in a wide variety of industries), knows that W. W. Grainger is a retailer. Du Pont is a manufacturer of the products involved. They don't sell these products directly, they sell to wholesalers and in this case a retailer, all of whom make their money by a mark up from what they pay to the manufacturer. Why doesn't Du Pont sell these things directly to the government? Because selling to the U. S. government is a giant pain in the ass. Among other stupid decisions, Donald Trump and his cronies have thrown the Paperwork Reduction Act in the trash.* So companies that are willing to sell to the U. S. government directly, have to keep up with whatever new crap the bureaucrats come up with. And then there are inspections. You can't just send the purchase to the government. They have to inspect a sample at the place it's going to be shipped from. It's a good idea, believe me. The government saves a fortune not having to return obvious junk. But having someone with the inspector(s) to answer questions and make sure all the paper work is in order and available to the inspector(s) costs the seller money. There is of course another inspection after the products are delivered to the government. And if any thing goes wrong at either inspection, it's the responsibility of the seller, in this case Grainger, to deal with the manufacturer and make it right. Grainger is a retailer. Their mark up is always substantial. Add in all the crap they have to go through to get the government to even look at the products, and paying double what Grainger paid the manufacturer isn't all that surprising or even unreasonable, particularly on otherwise inexpensive items.
The reporter writing up the article doesn't know any of this and his higher ups really don't care as long as it sounds like a juicy story.
*You should have seen the ridiculous special "easy" retired person's income tax form I had to fill out this year. It was about a third longer than last year's for no damn reason. I do my taxes on the computer so my work was about the same. But it came out with a third more forms somebody at IRS was going to have to go through to make sure I and the millions of other seniors didn't cheat somewhere. Granted, with my income it will be little more than a glance. But it's time for a worker that all of us are paying for.
This is why I get so angry at the news sometimes. This came up last night under a different headline with the company name in big print. First of all, the company involved (W. W. Grainger) is no silent partner. I guarantee you, their name is all over the paperwork required by the government. Second, anyone who knows anything about W. W. Grainger (mostly people who've worked in management in a wide variety of industries), knows that W. W. Grainger is a retailer. Du Pont is a manufacturer of the products involved. They don't sell these products directly, they sell to wholesalers and in this case a retailer, all of whom make their money by a mark up from what they pay to the manufacturer. Why doesn't Du Pont sell these things directly to the government? Because selling to the U. S. government is a giant pain in the ass. Among other stupid decisions, Donald Trump and his cronies have thrown the Paperwork Reduction Act in the trash.* So companies that are willing to sell to the U. S. government directly, have to keep up with whatever new crap the bureaucrats come up with. And then there are inspections. You can't just send the purchase to the government. They have to inspect a sample at the place it's going to be shipped from. It's a good idea, believe me. The government saves a fortune not having to return obvious junk. But having someone with the inspector(s) to answer questions and make sure all the paper work is in order and available to the inspector(s) costs the seller money. There is of course another inspection after the products are delivered to the government. And if any thing goes wrong at either inspection, it's the responsibility of the seller, in this case Grainger, to deal with the manufacturer and make it right. Grainger is a retailer. Their mark up is always substantial. Add in all the crap they have to go through to get the government to even look at the products, and paying double what Grainger paid the manufacturer isn't all that surprising or even unreasonable, particularly on otherwise inexpensive items.
The reporter writing up the article doesn't know any of this and his higher ups really don't care as long as it sounds like a juicy story.
*You should have seen the ridiculous special "easy" retired person's income tax form I had to fill out this year. It was about a third longer than last year's for no damn reason. I do my taxes on the computer so my work was about the same. But it came out with a third more forms somebody at IRS was going to have to go through to make sure I and the millions of other seniors didn't cheat somewhere. Granted, with my income it will be little more than a glance. But it's time for a worker that all of us are paying for.
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