USPS spent $32 million on Lance Armstrong!

[BatemanPatrickl]

No wonder these idiots are broke...

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=6019436

[Dirty Sanchez]

Bates not that it makes it any better, but that was over 4 years. A cycling team budget for a year with personnel, vehicles, etc. is in the neighborhood of 12 Million a year, so that $$ isn't out of line in cycling dollar terms. Now it being a Gov't $$ cash cow is a whole nother issue.

[txmagnolia2]

Atrocious.... The government should not be sponsoring for profit sports teams.

[jjgold]

What a waste

Guy is a fraud

[gimme2dollars]

Why does the postal service need to advertise anyway?

[Dirty Sanchez]

They were actually pretty popular, especially in Europe, as the Euro's used to chant the "Blue Train". They had an advertising campaign that focused on Overnight Delivery, etc. not unlike today when you see USPS adds for Flat Rate Shipping all over the Tube. They really did get a lot of pub on TV, merchandise sales, etc.

[Killer_Demo]

seriously way too much $$$ for a damn bike and nut-showing shorts

[Dirty Sanchez]

seriously wat too much $$$ for a damn bike and nut-showing shorts

You may not want to know how much the Postal Service is spending in their Advertising Budget's currently, because 32 million over 4 years is nothing. Their TV ad campaign over the past few years is much much more.

[pavyracer]

Armstrong's bike wasn't a big cost. The blood transfusions and the money used for bribing the testing labs are what kills the budget.

[NrmlCurvSurfr]

Bates not that it makes it any better, but that was over 4 years. A cycling team budget for a year with personnel, vehicles, etc. is in the neighborhood of 12 Million a year, so that $$ isn't out of line in cycling dollar terms. Now it being a Gov't $$ cash cow is a whole nother issue.

usps is losing money every year...not a cash cow

[Dirty Sanchez]

usps is losing money every year...not a cash cow

Not what I ment...was referring to an organization fleecing the Gov't for Millions$$...obviously the USPS losing Billions every year...everyone knows that

[NrmlCurvSurfr]

Not what I ment...was referring to an organization fleecing the Gov't for Millions$$...obviously the USPS losing Billions every year...everyone knows that

Oh I see. I do agree with you about the subsidizing. Complete waste of money. Privatization is doing a fine job of putting government services to shame.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Oh I see. I do agree with you about the subsidizing. Complete waste of money. Privatization is doing a fine job of putting government services to shame.

Agree...the days of big money Gov't sponsorships, etc. are over. Companies like Boeing, Northrup Grumman, etc. better hope the Gov't doesn't slash military/airline industry programs or they may find themselves in trouble. I've got no stats to back it up, but you've got to believe if it wasn't for our military, Boeing Inc. would barely survive.

[purecarnagge]

Let me elaborate on the USPS. They are not broke. They are being forced by congress to overfund there retirement fund. They are not allowed to touch those accounts either. They are being overfunded by billions of dollars a year. 112 billion according to my uncle at xmas. My aunt and him are both Postmasters. They say, yes, the regular operations need a major overhaul, but they aren't broke. They said they should just able to tap into that money and restructure. The problem is congress won't allow it, and this is the amount overfunded.

They actually stated they are worried about the government trying to come in and raid it for something else like they have done with Social Security...

[Albert Pujols]

How can Lance Armstrong get in trouble for the USPS spending money?

[teaserpleaser]

usps should spend some of that to upgrade that tracking system they have. unreal how delayed and slow that thing is.

[Dirty Sanchez]

How can Lance Armstrong get in trouble for the USPS spending money?

He won't...it was just made public because of the Federal Investigator and the "unnamed source who can't speak to the media" letting things out....kind of like the MLB thing. People will overreact to the dollar amount, but if you look at any company sponsoring sports, NASCAR, etc. some spend well above what USPS did with the USPS Cycling Team. At 8 Million a year (what USPS spent on Armstrong's Team) is a bargain because you could never fund a Top NASCAR Team for less than 15. Also remember at that time Armstrong was the Big Name and great "American Story" for all of his wins and returning from Cancer. USPS was looking for press and PR, and they got it.

[muldoon]

Shut 'em down. And good luck getting a letter delivered to fuckstick Iowa for less than $5

[EmpireMaker]

USPS should start a daily courrier run to the US from Costa Rica