The Insurance Department at Shear's Has Two Agents, Each Working

question 35

Essay

The insurance department at Shear's has two agents, each working at a mean speed of 8 customers per hour. Customers arrive at the insurance desk at a mean rate of one every six minutes and form a single queue. Management feels that some customers are going to find the wait at the desk too long and take their business to Word's, Shear's competitor.
In order to reduce the time required by an agent to serve a customer Shear's is contemplating installing one of two minicomputer systems: System A which leases for $18 per day and will increase an agent's efficiency by 25%; or, System B which leases for $23 per day and will increase an agent's efficiency by 50%. Agents work 8-hour days.
If Shear's estimates its cost of having a customer in the system at $3 per hour, determine if Shear's should install a new minicomputer system, and if so, which one.

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Definitions:

Preconscious Mind

Part of the mind that contains contents that are not in immediate awareness but can be accessed easily through recall and focus.

Subconscious

Part of the mind that operates below the level of conscious awareness, influencing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors without one's direct knowledge.

Unconscious Mind

A part of the mind that is inaccessible to the conscious mind but that affects behavior and emotions.

Displacement

In Freudian psychology, the unconscious shifting of an impulse or emotion from its original object to another object.