Postal Service lavish on some meals

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Postal Service workers dined on crab cakes and beef Wellington during a five-month period in which $792,022 was spent unnecessarily, officials said.

The agency engaged in the "imprudent spending" between September 2008 and February 2009 even as it reported losing $3.8 billion this year, the agency's inspector general said in a report this month.

The crab cake and beef Wellington were served at a $17,000 installation celebration for a postmaster -- who was not publicly identified -- even though agency guidelines allow only snacks at such events, the report said.

Other unjustified costs included $355,451 for food at a September 2008 national educational conference, the purchase of gift cards from unauthorized vendors and recognition gifts for workers, CNN reported Saturday.

After reading the report, the agency's controller, Vincent Devito, agreed to enforce a spending limit.

"It appears there is still work to be done in curtailing spending even further during this time of economic uncertainty," he said.