Sage and Associates produces two products named Loser and Big Winner. Last month 1,000 units of Loser and 4,000 units of Big Winner were produced and sold. Average prices and costs for the two products for last month follow: | | | | Big | | | Loser | | Winner | Selling price | | $ | 93 | | $ | 239 | Direct materials | | | 34 | | | 101 | Direct labour | | | 5 | | | 25 | Variable overhead | | | 5 | | | 15 | Product line fixed costs | | | 10 | | | 40 | Corporate fixed costs | | | 29 | | | 29 | Average margin per unit | | $ | 10 | | $ | 29 | The production lines for both products are highly automated, so large changes in production cause very little change in total direct labour costs. Workers who are classified as direct labour monitor the production line and are permanent employees who regularly work 40 hours per week. All costs other than corporate fixed costs listed under each product line could be avoided if the product line were dropped. Corporate fixed costs totalled $145,000, and the total sales amounted to 5,000 units, producing the average cost per unit of $29. About $12,540 of the corporate fixed costs could be avoided if Loser were dropped, and about $13,600 of the corporate fixed costs could be avoided if Big Winner were dropped. The remaining $118,860 could be avoided only by going out of business entirely. |