The most expensive problems are the ones you’ve learned to live with

Retailers have become remarkably adept at absorbing complexity. They adjust staffing around changing demand, build inventory and fulfillment processes to account for uncertainty and develop rules, buffers and manual interventions that keep the business running when the ideal answer is difficult or impractical to find. Over time, however, those accommodations can become so embedded in the operation that their original purpose is easy to forget. A process that consumes dozens of hours each week becomes simply how scheduling gets done. Extra capacity becomes part of the plan.