(Prepared from a situation suggested by Professor John W. Hardy.) Abilene Meat Processing Corporation is a major processor of beef and other meat products. The company has a large amount of T-bone steak on hand, and it is trying to decide whether to sell the T-bone steaks as is or to process them further into filet mignon and New York cut steaks. Management believes that a 1-pound T-bone steak would yield the following profit: Wholesale selling price ($2.25 per pound) $ 2.25 Less joint costs incurred up to the split-off point where T-bone steak can be identified as a separate product 1.70 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Profit per pound $ 0.55 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As mentioned above, instead of being sold as is, the T-bone steaks could be further processed into filet mignon and New York cut steaks. Cutting one side of a T-bone steak provides the filet mignon, and cutting the other side provides the New York cut. A one pound (16-ounce) T-bone steak cut in this way will yield one 6-ounce filet mignon and one 8-ounce New York cut; the remaining ounces are waste. The cost of processing the T-bone steaks into these cuts is $0.20 per pound. The filet mignon can be sold for $3.60 per pound, and the New York cut can be sold wholesale for $2.90 per pound. Required: 1. Determine the profit per pound from processing the T-bone steaks further into filet mignon and New York cut steaks. (Loss amount should be indicated by minus sign. Do not round intermediate calculations. Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the "$" sign in your response.) Profit per pound from further processing $ 2. Would you recommend that the T-bone steaks be sold as is or processed further? T-bone steaks should be sold. T-bone steaks should be processed further