I hear postage is going up again....

From Orlando Sentinel

Postal officials defend $13,500 steak dinner

Internal funds cover the $13,500 tab for filets and drinks, they say. Auditors call it 'abusive.'

Mark K. Matthews Washington Bureau
April 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - When the U.S. Postal Service rang up a $13,500 tab at an Orlando steakhouse, it spared no expense during a five-hour meal that government investigators are calling "abusive" in its extravagance.

The order -- charged to government credit cards -- included more than $3,000 for drinks, more than $500 for shrimp cocktails and almost $900 for mini crab cakes, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigate arm of Congress.

And then there's the steak."The better question is probably what they didn't order," GAO investigator Gregory Kutz said Wednesday. He counted 81 entrees -- including just about every kind of steak -- from the 2006 feast at Ruth's Chris Steak House on Sand Lake Road.

The GAO cited the Orlando meal as part of an overarching audit into abuse of government credit cards. The report, released this week, found 41 percent of purchases reviewed by the GAO from 2005 to 2006 failed "basic internal control standards."

These include safety measures such as getting proper authorization or having someone other than the cardholder review the expense. A lack of oversight led to abuses such as embezzling or odd expenses such as lingerie, electronic equipment and, in one case, $77,700 worth of expensive suits bought by the Pentagon.

But U.S. Postal Service officials said it was unfair to compare the dinner with other abuses cited in the GAO report. "This is not taxpayer money. What we spend is what we make. The Postal Service is funded solely by our products and services," said Gerry McKiernan, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.

That is $166 per person folks... No wonder postage is going up AGAIN on May first.