A Flower Shop Has One Employee in the Front of the Store

question 33

Essay

A flower shop has one employee in the front of the store to sell flowers out of a cooler. On Saturdays customers arrive every six minutes, on average. The employee can serve a customer every five minutes, on average. The owner of the store feels that if there are more than four customers in the store at one time, additional customers may not come in because the wait appears too long.
a. What is the chance of four or more customers being in the store at one time?
b. What is the total time (in minutes) a customer spends in the store?
c. What is the average number of customers in the store?

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Definitions:

Marginal Cost

The cost of producing one additional unit of a product, often used to decide the amount of production.

Profit Maximizing

A company's strategy aiming to achieve the highest possible profit given its products, market conditions, and operational costs.

Units of Output

The individual items or quantities of service produced by a company, sector, or economy.

Demand Curve

A visual representation that shows the relationship between the price of a product and the quantity of it that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices.