Question

You need to buy at least 100 shirts to give away to the first 100 customers who buy a car at the dealership where you work. ShirtWorks charges $5.95 per shirt. OffMyBack’s prices are given in the table below. What is the least cost to get the shirts you need?

Number of shirts orderedPrice per shirt for each shirt ordered20 or less$7.2521–50$6.2051–100$5.90101 or more$5.75

Answer 1

We need to buy minimum of 100 shirts. The pricing for two companies 'ShirtWorks' and 'OffMyBack' is available. ShirtWorks sells each shirt for $5.95. The charges for ShirtWorks do not vary with the number of shirts ordered. OffMyBack reduces the charges per shirt as the number of shirts ordered increases. (Please see the attachment to see the cost in a tabulated manner)

Now, calculating the cost of shirts, if an order of 100 shirts is placed.

ShirtWorks = 100 × 5.95 = 595

OffMyBack = 100 × 5.90 = 590

Since OffMyBack charges 590, which is lower than what ShirtWorks would charge (595). We now know that OffMyBack is cheaper, and we will place order through OffMyBack. Hence, to purchase 100 shirts, we need to spend 590.

But if we order more than 100, let's say 101 shirts, then the charges per shirt will further reduce for OffMyBack, and the total money charged would be:

OffMyBack = 101 × 5.75 = 580.75

For 102, the charges would be = 102 × 5.75 = 586.5

Hence, from the above calculations we can see that to buy at least 100 shirts, we will have to spend at least 580.75. So the least cost is 580.75