Numbers, We Are
And only numbers
“I’ve monitored the operation for four days and crunched the numbers: The crop dusters fly an average of twenty feet above ground, drift is ten to forty percent depending on wind, and one-fifth of the pesticide is wasted due to overlap spraying. If the pilots fly six feet or lower above ground, those rather dismal figures could easily be halved. Earnings would potentially improve fifty percent, and since your bonuses are directly connected to company profit, you guys would also rake it in, so to speak.”
Below six feet was a tall order, so to speak, but there was no use arguing; he was an ace consultant, $4000 a day. He also had a long printout showing complex calculations that none of us understood.
I met him two years later at an agribusiness conference in Las Vegas. He remembered me and wanted to know how the low-flying aerial application was working out. I told him, if anything, his estimates had proved to be conservative. The company had its market share doubled, profits had been going through the roof and with bonus every pilot’s pay was well north of $10k a month. On the top of that, instead of seven days a week during the busy season we only worked six. He invited me to dinner at a Brazilian steak house.
As soon as we were done eating he showed me a printout. “Crunched the new numbers: Good news, if you guys go back to seven days a week in spray season, margins would go up at least twenty-five percent. Remember, your bonuses are directly connected to company profit. How was your Chuleta by the way?”
He was a nice guy, the ribeye and red wine and Creme Brûlée were all great, and I didn’t want to ruin the mood. I told him, no thanks but we’d continue six days a week without explaining the reason: We had to keep Saturdays open for the occasional funeral.
