this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024
249 points (98.8% liked)

Not The Onion

12111 readers
1772 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Comments must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] solrize@lemmy.world 11 points 1 hour ago

soap dispensers

Sounds like money laundering was going on.

[–] ruckblack@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Cool I'm so glad I got wildly overpriced soap dispensers on planes I'll never board for the fucking huge chunk of cash our useless fucking government takes from me instead of healthcare, or roads that aren't full of potholes, or properly functioning public transit, I love this country and my life

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 14 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Boeing keeps stepping on the rake.

[–] seaQueue@lemmy.world 10 points 2 hours ago

I mean, wouldn't you if the rake handle had huge bags of cash tied to it? They'll always step on the rake but they're practiced enough that they only get hit in the face occasionally.

[–] skizzles@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

This is exactly what happens when the system is based on lowest bid contracts.

[–] radix@lemmy.world 76 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

You didn't think they actually spent ten thousand dollars for a hammer and thirty thousand for a toilet seat, did you?

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 30 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (2 children)

Came here to post this lol

You didn’t think they actually spent ten thousand dollars for a hammer and thirty thousand for a toilet seat, did you?

[–] noxy@yiffit.net 1 points 26 minutes ago

I'm so fucking glad I'm not the only one who IMMEDIATELY thought of that guy saying that line

[–] fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 hours ago (2 children)
[–] kindernacht@lemmy.world 22 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Independence Day (1996)

They just walked in to the underground lab beneath Area 51. The president was curious how it was paid for.

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

What kindernacht said.

Judd Hirsch plays Jeff Goldblum's character's dad, who has low tolerance for bullshit lol

[–] Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

I knew someone would post this fast and I was not dissapointed.

[–] P34C0CK@lemmy.world 41 points 4 hours ago
[–] tal@lemmy.today 29 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (3 children)

For its part, Boeing representatives announced they are “reviewing the report, which appears to be based on an inapt comparison of the prices paid for parts that meet aircraft and contract specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not be qualified or approved for use on the C-17,” the company said in a statement.

looks dubiously at dispenser

In what way is the right-hand soap dispenser not adequately qualified?

EDIT: It looks like the C-17 can fly pressurized, so I don't think that it can be undergoing pressure changes, which is the one thing that I could think of.

[–] Pyotr@lemmy.world 28 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

The COTS unit shown there is not tested and certified to the contract requirements Boeing was working to. Simple as. If the price ridiculous? Absolutely yes. But you cannot go to a home hardware store and slap one in a plane.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago

If I can slap it in a collapsible sub, I can slap it in an airplane!

Besides, it's not like it's supposed to be what's holding the door plug on.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

Well ya can but you’re taking some risks if you do. Your soap dispenser might not work worth a shit if you haven’t tested it.

[–] leisesprecher@feddit.org 20 points 4 hours ago

I'm 90% sure these deals are a way to funnel money into defense contractors without having a suspicious paper trail.

Overcharge a bit here and there, and by sheer volume you get a nice shadow budget to build and operate things that aren't even supposed to exist.

[–] Fermion@feddit.nl 11 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The cabin is usually pressurized to the equivalent of 8000 ft asl. So the dispenser does have to deal with pressure changes. A simple vent hole aught to take care of that though.

[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 14 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Also, as the safety briefing says, "we do not anticipate a change in cabin pressure," but if a rapid decompression should occur, there was probably some provision made so that the soap dispenser doesn't just shatter or explode or something.

[–] ronflex@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

I would say kinda based if it wasn't my tax dollars going toward that crap. Starts to put the massively over-inflated military budget into perspective.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

This isn’t oniony. It happens all the time. The ongoing theory is that it’s done to cover top secret expenditures.

[–] LavenderDay3544@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

It's much more likely to be corporate kickbacks for political donations.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 4 points 3 hours ago

I know “everybody does it” isn’t a valid excuse, but… everybody does it.

[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 2 points 3 hours ago
[–] BonerMan@ani.social 5 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

And why exactly did they pay it?

[–] Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world 1 points 26 minutes ago

I work in this space. There's a wide variety of reasons, a company being dumb and greedy is definitely among them but typically just a tiny part of the equation. The biggest thing is certified vendors. The military/government is incredibly strict with who they'll contract with. Which means the supply is incredibly limited on many things, which in turn means that companies will ratchet up prices a crazy amount in part to deal with the goofy standards that the government requires on their goods but also because they know the demand far outweighs the supply.

There is also the burden of time. The US government drags their feet an INSANE amount on projects. It scales with size as well. The larger the project the slower things move almost every time. It very frequently gets to a point where they need stuff done right now because they waited too long and will pay pretty much any price to do it.

There is also the fact that the military is operating with a budget chalk full of "fuck you money." In short, money is immaterial. Half the time they don't even look at the price, whatever it costs doesn't matter, just get it done and get it done right.

My company marks up shit an insane amount and I know for a fact pretty much every other certified vendor is as well. I dunno about 8k% (lol) markup but honestly that doesn't shock me. The prices I've seen are jaw dropping. And they pretty much never get negotiated or rejected.

[–] Pantsofmagic@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

It's often the military's own flowed down certification requirements that result in significantly higher costs

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Probably because trying to fight the bullshit ends up costing more in the long run.

[–] BonerMan@ani.social 2 points 3 hours ago

I mean... Just don't pay and get planes from Airbus next time...