This is not a rant. I try to stay away from the negative. But what is going on outside in my office parking lot is difficult to ignore. See these cars? They are owned by the State of Hawaii, and they have been sitting in our lot for over two years now. They run (or they did when they were left to rot). Finally, the landlord is requiring removal. But, the State’s rep tells me that they will not sell these cars, auction them, sell them for scrap, or even donate them to people in need of transportation. Why? Because the red tape to have the State authorize any of these responsible dispositions of its autos is too great. It is easier to have them towed to the dump and smashed and shredded. And that is where they are going. No benefit to anyone. Perfectly good transportation. No money to the State. Money will be paid out by the State to tow these vehicles and have them destroyed.

The first photo (left-top), showing the fender of a champagne-colored car, is one of the newer models the State workers currently drive. See the tape holding the fender on? I suppose it is too cumbersome to do the paperwork to authorize body work. So soon, this car will be looking shabby like the others. No one will wash it. No one will want to drive it. The agency head will ask the State for funds to buy it a new car. Then this perfectly good little car will deteriorate for a few years in the lot, and then be towed and shredded. The pattern repeats.

When I graduated from the University of Washington, I took an internship at the GSA Regional Center in Auburn, WA. I was working (mid 80′s) at a time when Lotus 123 software on an Apple computer was the rage, and I was responsible for training GSA employees how to convert their budgets to a spreadsheet format. The Federal Government requires certain aspects of GSA to be self funding, so GSA’s budget is somewhat like a for-profit venture. With the mandate to be “profitable”, I observed that the GSA staff took care of its fleets, implemented proper fleet rotation principles, practiced proper maintenance techniques, thereby adding to the bottom line when vehicles were rotated out of the fleet and sold.

Why Hawaii can’t implement some method for maximizing its return on its fleet, I do not know. They’re doing it wrong. There is no incentive – just disincentive to the local staff. I do not blame the local staff – they are beholden to the flawed system up the ladder, to wherever the buck is supposed to stop. This may seem like a small matter, but as with all systems, it is not good to ignore the small symptoms of a potentially larger problem.