Fill This Form To Receive Instant Help

Help in Homework
trustpilot ratings
google ratings


Homework answers / question archive / Some vending machines on college campuses sell identical items (such as a bag of potato chips) for two different prices

Some vending machines on college campuses sell identical items (such as a bag of potato chips) for two different prices

Economics

Some vending machines on college campuses sell identical items (such as a bag of potato chips) for two different prices. The low-priced chips generally sell out by the end of the day, leaving the more expensive chips for late-night visitors to the vending machines. What must the vending machine operators think about the demand of people who visit the machine at night relative to those who visit the machine during the day? Why might they think this?

a) People who buy snacks at night have more elastic demand than people who buy snacks during the day. People who are in the building late at night are likely to have an office in which they can store food.

b) People who buy snacks at night have less elastic demand than people who buy snacks during the day. People buying snacks at night have fewer substitutes from which to choose (since a lot of restaurants and others stores are likely to be closed).

c) People who buy snacks at night have more elastic demand than people who buy snacks during the day. People buying snacks at night have probably already eaten three full meals.

d) People who buy snacks at night have less elastic demand than people who buy snacks during the day. People who buy from the vending machines at night are more likely to bring food from home and thus not need food from a vending machine.

pur-new-sol

Purchase A New Answer

Custom new solution created by our subject matter experts

GET A QUOTE

Answer Preview

The answer to this question is:

b) People who buy snacks at night have less elastic demand than people who buy snacks during the day. People buying snacks at night have fewer substitutes from which to choose (since a lot of restaurants and others stores are likely to be closed).

By having less elastic demand, we mean that people who purchase snacks at night are less responsive to price change than those who buy at daytime. At daytime, there are many restaurants in operation; therefore, if vending machine operators increase the price of potato chips, the clients will switch to other snacks because they are readily available. However, at night, substitutes are not easily available as many shops are closed, the night buyers are therefore forced to buy the potato chips regardless of the price.

Related Questions