This was one of the comments if you go over to the youtube site
I work for a hospital here in Brooklyn, NY, and in the 8 years I have worked for this hospital they have thrown literally hundreds of thousands of unused backup supplies that were stored and never used. Every year the hospital gets money and the administrators order backup supplies and every year the old backup supplies of the previous year get thrown away. If the money the hospital doesn't get used, the hospital gets less money next fiscal year. It is absolutely ridiculous and shameful how this hospital wastes money and resources, and I can't imagine the thousands of other hospitals throughout the USA do the same thing.
AND, before anyone starts explaining about shelf life or such I realize some items expire. I also realize that manufacturers put expiration dates SO you throw shit out and buy more.
h/t to Skip
You are correct. Every year MILLIONS of dollars are tossed out under the excuse of "expired". ANYTHING with an "expiration date" on it gets tossed once that date arrives. The dates are artificially created and applied to FORCE stock turnover and hospitals toss supplies out of fear of lawsuits. Been in healthcare 45 years.... and I can tell you that EVERY decision made in a hospital includes tactics and decisions meant to avoid lawsuits. We even throw out "expired" barium used for X Ray exams....Barium Sulfate....an INERT MINERAL that reacts with NOTHING. It's like throwing away "last year's" drywall because it's expired.
ReplyDeleteI worked for the government at a military installation and the waste I saw was unbelievable. Exact thing what Dan said - you have to spend for next years budget and my God the money I went through for no reason.
ReplyDeleteOne of many sad symptoms of this once great country's fall from grace. Woodrow Wilson rots in hell with the rest of his evil ilk. Ohio Guy
ReplyDelete".... and I can tell you that EVERY decision made in a hospital includes tactics and decisions meant to avoid lawsuits."
ReplyDeleteHow to save a lot of money: maybe we should start throwing out lawyers and corrupt judges well prior to their "expiration date"
Isn't the ventilator a last gasp (sorry) measure? If you are on a ventilator your chances are slim, is that true? Cuomo was going to have the National Guard seize the ventilators from upstate NY as I recall.
ReplyDeleteNow he can just go to the landfill and do some dump picking, I guess.
I'm wondering if those ventilators are Donald Trump's equivalent of Bush's FEMA trailers.
Delete"Bought 'em, they don't meet the specs, so out they go."
Of course the ChinaVirus is not ALL bullshit. But it's mostly bullshit.
ReplyDeleteback in the very early 80's my wife and I lived in an apartment on a large farm overlooking Big Squam Lake in NH which was part of the estate where I did property maintenance. We were expecting out first child and my wife was told of the WIC program by our family doctor so she went and signed up. When she signed up the lady asked to make an appointment to do a home interview when I was available after work.
ReplyDeleteTwo ladies came to the house and asked us questions about income and such. they informed us that we were eligible for other assistance like food stamps and heating assistance. I explained that we were not lacking for food for ourselves as we gardened and canned and I supplemented our meat by hunting and fishing. As far as heating assistance was concerned we burned wood and I cut and split what we needed and got the wood off the log yards for free on log site smy father was logging .
They explained that if we did not take the assistance that was available even though I said we didn't need it that we would be depriving someone next year who did need assistance from receiving it. Their yearly budget for next year was set as an increased percentage over what they spent this year so by not taking benefits that we were eligible for this year next year someone who needed it would not get it. As for the fuel assistance I could either buy my wood all split and delivered with the money and would not have to do it myself or we could just deposit the money in our bank account and use it for whatever we wanted. I politely told them that I enjoyed cutting and splitting wood and taking money we did not need did not sit right with me and then I asked them to leave.
I have had a rather dim view of government assistance programs from that day forward. It appears that they wish to assist themselves and their budget. So it goes...
sawman
Facebook won't allow this to be posted- it has been reported as hateful content. Johnny Gee
ReplyDeleteI buy and sell surplus for my living. I also prep extensively. Shortly before wuflu came to the US I bought a couple of pallets of medical supplies that were about to go out of date.
ReplyDeleteThere was a mix of stuff, including ER surgical drape setups, drainage setups, respiratory support kits (all the hoses and a mask), monitoring electrodes, stuff like that.
And YES, much of it is stuff that really doesn't expire. Hard plastic collection jars and assorted fittings for collecting drainage, or suction don't change much. The soft plastics do. I'm sure everyone here has had some piece of gear with a soft plastic overmold that got sticky. The "rubber" buttons on my steering wheel of my Ford Ranger got soft and crumbled.
So in a bag labelled "Turnover kit" some of the pieces are still fine at expiration. Some were not. And 6 months later, several things were not usable. A sterilizing prep paste in a foil packet had eaten thru the foil. A lube on external male catheter plastic sleeves got super sticky. Single use wipes were dried out inside their foil packets. IV kit hoses were getting sticky.
SOME stuff is good past expiration date. That doesn't mean all of it is, or that it'll be good in another year.
n
It's just planned obsolescence, I think history will look back on the last 50 years and think "WTF?" In order to keep GDP, people employed, etc... 2 things, basically like this hospitals and businesses toss everything and buy it again, and things are built to purposefully break over time. If you didn't do this there wouldn't be enough jobs... think about all the manufacturing, logistics, and end of lifecycle that these products provide jobs too. We do this in the US, houses are built to last 50 years now (if that) and cars to last about 10... lawn mowers about 5-7, water heaters about 8... I mean basically look at the warranty information and you know about how long that XYZ should last before you can expect to buy a replacement. Sucks but like I said I think 50 years from now they'll hopefully look back on the years since the 70's, through probably the next 50 years, and think "What were they thinking?" Hopefully.
ReplyDeleteYou can still buy quality that is built to last. Look in wealthy people's lives (the kind of people who earned the the hard way) and you'll see brands you might not recognize.
ReplyDeleteMen's casual and outdoor clothing - Orvis
Appliances - Miele, thermidor, wolf
Rolex watches
Well made mens shoes designed to be resoled and repaired.
Solid wool carpets
Real wood furniture- the American Girl doll line has furniture that is better quality than my bedroom set
I'm sure there are mens suits and ladies clothing that is conservative and timeless too, but I don't buy anything like that so I wouldn't know the labels. I can say that a conservative Brooks Brothers suit in a classic cut is just as well regarded now as 40 years ago, assuming truly classic details, and BB isn't even particularly high end.
None of it is cheap though, unless you buy second hand (like me). I've got shoes that are 50 years old and will be wearable and worn for another 50.
It's the cheapness that is killing the stuff. Circuit traces are thinner, so the electronics die easier. Plating is thinner. Parts are thinner and in general rely on their shape for strength and not so much on the strength of the material itself. Change the shape and the strength is lost.
Plastics went thru a phase where they all had to be 'soft' and that softness fails to sticky goo over time.. Chose products without a soft overmold, chose metal over plastic, chose mechanical fasteners over glue.
And pay more for all of it, but only pay once.
n
Indeed. I try to save up the money to buy commercial grade equipment rather than homeowner; it lasts longer and is much more enjoyable to use. Going from a residential 20" lawn mower to a commercial walk behind (exmark) is absolute bliss and enlightenment. I used to mow several acres with brute force and raw conditioning, but now, just bliss. You get what you pay for.
DeleteIf I can't afford a good brand, support, etc, I don't buy a lesser version anymore unless it's a one off thing I really need. In that case, it goes back into the case / box until I need it again and baby it because money is tight tight tight! I'm so close to my own riches but I need to endure for just a few more years. (assuming nothing terrible befalls me.)
same in all companies, govt biz, and military. If you don't use up what finance gives you to spend in a year, you won't get the same amount or more money the next year.
ReplyDeleteThrowing equipment away is only part of what we see. What most don't know is that these same places that throw away equipment often openly refuse to send the stuff to other those who do need it. I'm not talking useless crap either; but stuff like hoses, scbas, sealed medical instruments etc...Not only is there the mentality (and reality to a degree) of use is or loose it for funding; but there's an ingrained sense of 'just because I don't need it doesn't mean you can have it'. I grew up volunteering for a fire dept. in a very rural area. Once or twice a year when larger depts, hospitals, and even state agencies were tossing out old equipment we'd sneak in and literally dumpster dive for new stuff. We'd even go into storerooms and swipe stuff in the outgoing pile before it had even been processed. And this problem is endemic across the country. Heck if you want an eye opener go to any rural volunteer fire dept (I'm talking small as in towns with less than 500 people) and ask the old timers where all there stuff came from. Dollars to donuts at least 25% was not gotten through normal routes. And why; because the citizens were failed from the local government all the way to the feds when life saving equipment was/and still is needed
ReplyDeleteI did similar stuff at CIF/IF. When I turned in my gear there was a dump box for old IFAK stuffings and most of it was still vacuum sealed but simply 'out of date'. I took enough to make a few aid kits but I should have taken more, still sterile and sealed, just out of date or near-so. It was all going to be destroyed. Likewise, they only want the IFAK cover (first aid kit) back so I kept the goodies for me and mine.
DeletePeople got so much stuff that was to be "DERMOED" or equipment written off to be destroyed / burned in Afghanistan. One lucky kid got a Whites mine detector, other people got some older / used interceptor body armors. I walked away with a brand new, if a bit dusty, IMTV much too large for myself, an ILBE main pack that still needs a seatbelt, and a functional 1080P TV that is still in use today. Waste not want not I say!
SCAMDEMIC!!
ReplyDeleteI worked for the public school for a while and they wasted money like there was no tomorrow. After having that job I understand why my darn taxes are so high
ReplyDelete