The Robbery

C: Interesting, so if I understand the situation correctly then all these shops are in the mall. Am I correct?

I: Yes, that is right

C: So, are these shops located on the same floor in the mall?

I: Good question, so they are on different floors. The chai shop is in the food court, the Archies shop on the 2nd floor and the furniture shop on the 1st floor

C: And are we planning the robbery at a particular date or time of the day?

I: It's all up to you to decide.

C: Here I would like to think like a thief. I would always like to increase my profits and reduce my risks and at the least balance them. So, I would first like to analyze the sources of profit in all the three situation and at morning and nighttime of the day.

I: That seems fair.

C: If I rob in morning there are three sources of profit. First one being Accounting money, secondly the materials of use and the third one being customer or consumers’ money. At nighttime, the materials of use and accounting money will still be there, but consumers will be absent. Now, I would like to look at each stop, using these three parameters at night and daytime. Also, I would like to divide the accounting money further into consumer density at the place and ticket size per consumer. Should I go ahead?

I: Yes please, go ahead.

C: If we talk about the chai shop, I assume it is like the Chaayos one and thus the consumer density will be high at the daytime. But the ticket size will be low. Also, the materials used will not generate enough value worthy of being robbed. The positive side here is that there can be more offline money transactions rather than online. This can generate value both on consumer end and on the accounting money end. 

Second is the Archies shop. Here the consumer density will be lower than that of chai shop, but it will still be significant. The ticket size will be higher, and the transactions will involve both online and offline modes. Also, the materials or products of the shop can generate value in the market and are easy to carry. This makes a potential spot for robbery on all the three accounts both during day and nighttime.

Third is the furniture shop. It will have the lowest customer density, but the ticket size will be highest. Here the materials or products used are or high value but are difficult to carry. Also, the transactions being of high value will be done mostly online. So here the accounting and customer money will be scarce and contain high risk. The only potential gain is through furniture robbery which can be commenced at the nighttime only. Now I would like to analyze all the three cases based on location. Should I go ahead?

I: Yes.

C: Okay, so based on the location, chai shop is in the food court and these are usually on the topmost floor of the mall. This makes it a tricky place to rob and since the returns are low and only generated when the crowd density is high, I would like to avoid that.  Archie’s shop is at the 2nd floor. It is accessible and the items can be snuck into an overcoat or any cover without the knowledge of the owner. This can be a good spot to rob at the daytime as there will be plenty of customers and no one will notice a thing or two missing. The furniture shop is at the ground floor. Easiest to access but the product is most difficult to rob. It is going to be a nighttime robbery where we would like to get the most expensive piece of furniture. It has high risks but high rewards.

So, I would like to go with the Archies shop if I am in a quick need of money as the items will sell easily too (the ones that I robbed). If the need is not dire then I would like to rob the furniture store. As the rewards are high. I will take up the chai shop robbery only when I want to hone my skills of being sneaky.

I: That was amazing. Thank you, we can close the case here.