The Humane Society has asked for our help again this week. Currently they are charging $50 for an adoption fee. Unfortunately they just pulled this number out of the air and do not know why they are charging this amount. They would like to charge an amount that covers all the adoption costs – both the variable costs for adoptions as well as the fixed cost for the kennel portion of the Humane Shelter operations. We can help them by doing a breakeven analysis.
During a client meeting we gathered these facts. There are 2 part-time employees that each earn $1000 per month. The utilities for the kennel area (water, electricity) are $200 per month. The average food cost for animals in the kennel is $800 per month. In addition, each animal that is adopted receives a rabies vaccination that costs $4 and is micro-chipped that costs $6.
At the current cost of $50, how many animals must be adopted to break-even?
What would break-even be at a $60 adoption fee?
What would break-even be if the fee were lowered to $40?
The newspaper has suggested that the Humane Society advertise to increase pet adoptions. The package that they have recommended costs $1000 for a very small ad run every day for a month. If the Humane Society does this extra advertising, how will it affect breakeven?
Based on what you have learned about elasticity, what price do you recommend for the adoption fee?