Goverment error Sends Callers to Sex Line

[Invictus ChiKen]

Link

Gov't Error Sends Callers To Sex Line
People Hoping To Order Duck Stamps Greeted By Phone-Sex Line Due To Printing Mistake

(AP) People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct.

The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so instead of listing 1-800-782-6724, it lists 1-800-872-6724. The first number spells out 1-800-STAMP24, while the second number spells out 1-800-TRAMP24.

People calling that second number are welcomed by "Intimate Connections" and enticed by a husky female voice to "talk only to the girls that turn you on," for $1.99 a minute.

Duck stamps, which cost $15 a piece, are required to hunt migratory waterfowl. The government uses nearly all the revenue to purchase waterfowl habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. In 2006-2007, the latest figures available, duck stamp purchases brought in nearly $22 million.

This year's stamps, which feature a pair of northern pintail ducks, went on sale July 1 and are good through June 30 of next year. The error will not be corrected until next year's duck stamps.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the program, printed about 3.5 million duck stamps attached to cards with the wrong number. An agency spokeswoman, Rachel Levin, said it would cost $300,000 to reprint them.

"I don't know that it would be worth it to do a reprint," she said Thursday. "That's a lot of money we can be using for wildlife conservation. With all of the needs for conservation, it doesn't make sense to divert money away from an important cause." For those people who like to dial by letter, the card does include the proper 1-800-STAMP24.

"As best we know, it was a typographical error that was not caught," Levin said, stressing that the stamps are still valid.

The agency first learned of the mistake a few days ago, when a duck stamp owner informed them about the glitch. Levin said the agency has not received any complaints.

The error, which was first reported Wednesday by Denver TV station KUSA, is limited to self-adhesive versions of the stamps. The moistened version, which is printed in much smaller numbers, does not come with a carrier card.

The government uses a contractor, Ashton Potter Security Printers of Williamsville, N.Y., to print the duck stamps. Levin said she did not know whether the error was made by the government or by the company.

Ashton Potter's president and chief executive, Barry Switzer, said that the company was provided with the wrong telephone number.

"We reproduced the wrong number correctly," he said. "We regret this whole situation happened, but we did our job properly."

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[TithonusSyndrome]

I think this is the sort of thing that we're being encouraged to put in OT from now on, IC.

[Invictus ChiKen]

I think this is the sort of thing that we're being encouraged to put in OT from now on, IC.

I was divided on were to put it. I finally decided on here as it had to do with a Government screwing up big time.

I almost did put it in OT with a request it be moved here if a MOD so decided to.

[Invictus ChiKen]

Government screwing up big time would to me include something serious, like loss of life. A typo causing people to dial the wrong number and quickly notice then fix their mistake on their own (it is easy enough to redial based on the letters rather than the numbers) doesn't even come close.

I'd call the loss of life something beyond a big time screw up, I just hadn't found the right words for it yet. Still I'll remember this for next time.

[bozazz]

Well it's not too big an issue this one. It's only a wrong number being dialed. A really big screw up is http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/03/13/fax000313.html. When personal information is ending up where it shouldn't. That's usually ends up being a lot more embrassing.

[bozazz]

sorry about incorrectly dressing the link. I had a brain fart and put the url in the wrong place.

[Kitsune]

Its a plot by PETA.......

[Zablorg]

Holy crap, there was a Dilbert comic that was just like this!

Do you think they may start trialing their phone numbers before they publish them now?

[Qwerty 42]

Hey, I can't imagine the phone sex company is complaining.