Question: A printing company estimates that it will require 1,000 reams of a certain type of paper in a given period. The cost of carrying one ream in inventory for that period is $0.50. The company buys the paper from a wholesaler in the same town, sending its own truck to pick up the orders at a fixed cost of $20 per trip; treating this cost as the ordering/setup cost, what is the optimum number of reams to buy at one time? How many times should lots of this size be purchased during this period? What is the minimum cost of maintaining inventory on this item for the period?