The reminds me of the dryly satiric, darkly comic Magnus Mills novel "The Scheme for Full Employment"[1]. It concerns "UniVan" drivers delivering loads to different UniVan depots around the country. It eventually becomes apparent that the only thing they are delivering are UniVan parts and the only work being done at the depots is maintenance and repair of the UniVans themselves. The entire enterprise had been established to provide busy work.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scheme_for_Full_Employment