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Product wastage and variable costs

business acumen
New answer on Aug 03, 2021
2 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Aug 02, 2021

How does product wasted lead to increased variable costs? Doesn't the same amount of inputs go in to create the product regardless of whether the product was finally sold or not? So how does it increase variable cost?

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Ian
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replied on Aug 03, 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

You squeeze 3 lemons by hand to get a cup of lemonade. Lemons cost $1 each, so each cup costs you $3 in variable costs.

You then make a machine that allows you to get more juice per lemon by squeezing more surface area. You now only need 2 lemons to get a cup of lemonade. A cup now costs you $2 in variable costs.

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Agrim
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replied on Aug 03, 2021
BCG Dubai Project Leader | Learn to think like a Consultant | Free personalised prep plan | 6+ years in Consulting

Variable cost is per unit product sold, and not produced.

If you produce 100 units of product but 50 units go waste - your revenue will be from 50 units, but your production cost will be from 100 units.

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Ian gave the best answer

Ian

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