The vice president of a food distribution company suggests that returning to Buzzoff

for all the pest control services is the best solution to decrease the cost. However,
this argument rests on several assumptions that require further examination.
First of all, the vice president assumed that since the cost of pest damaged food is
higher in Palm City than Wintervale, the Buzzoff Company has a higher efficiency in
pest control than Fly-Away Company. However, we must ask, are these two cases
comparable? There’s no information about whether the food stored in the
warehouses of these two cities are exactly the same food with the same amount. It is
possible that the food stored in the Palm City is way more valuable than that of the
Wintervale, in this scenario even the pest control services yield equal results in both
cities, the cost of pest damaged food will still be higher in Palm City. Furthermore,
given the food is identical in these two cities, what about the total amount of the
food? It is likely that two companies’ pest control services render an equal 10% pest
damaged food, however, with the total food amount in Palm City is two times more
than that of the Wintervale, the cost of the damaged food in Palm City is therefore
two times more than that of the Wintervale.
Even if the food factor remains constant in both price and total amount, the above
argument relies on another assumption that the cost of damaged food is solely the
result of the pest control services. However, we have to ask, were any other factor
operative? Maybe the weather in Palm City is more suitable for the pest to
reproduce, or the location of Palm City is more susceptible to pest damages. In both
cases even these two companies provided the same pest control services, the cost of
damaged food will still be higher due to the climate or the geographical differences.
Another assumption needs to be verified is that even the price charged by Fly-Away
Company is hugely lower than Buzzoff Company, the vice president still believes that
returning to Buzzoff Company is the best way to save money. However, even the pest
control services of Buzzoff Company are truly better than Fly-Away Company, we
must question that can the money saved from food damaged fully cover, or even
exceed the large rise in pest control fee? Also, does cancel the contract with Fly-Away
Company entailed a penalty? The vice president needs to provide more detailed cost
analysis to support his argument.
All in all, none of the assumptions, however, necessarily leads to the argument. The
vice president needs to address the above assumptions to strengthen his argument.