Evaluating Volume Discounts: The 'R0ML’s Ratio' Methodology

My father, also known as 'R0ML' once described a methodology for evaluating volume purchases that I think needs to be more popular.

If you are a hardcore fan, you might know that he has already described this concept publicly in a talk at OSCON in 2005, among other places, but it has never found its way to the public Internet.

Let’s say you’re running a circus. The circus has many clowns. Ten thousand clowns, to be precise. They require bright red clown noses. Therefore, you must acquire a significant volume.