unattributed costs

[unpakwon]

Could you explain the following expressions in bold in easy English?

1. Many business owners are astonished to find that a product that they thought was profitable is actually costing them money each time they sell an item because of "unattributed costs."

2. Upon inspection, it may turn out that the cost of executive time, staff salaries, advertising, sales costs and commissions, shipping and delivery, insurance, and returns because of product defects or dissatisfied customers actually total up to a loss on every sale.

Does this refer to "the time an executive invests in business?"

3. If you sell a single product or service to a single customer, your costs can be quite high in servicing that customer. In this case, you would charge "full retail."

Thank you.

[Hi_there_Carl]

unattributed costs are costs that are not attributed to the cost to produce and or sell something. Often overhead costs are not attributed to the production or sale. To properly account for costs in business there should be no unattributed costs.

executive time is the time (which has value) the executive spends in managing the production and/or sale process. Even if the executive spends no time dealing with the product or service his/her costs must be recovered through the sale of goods and/or services.

full retail is the price charged to store customers. It is the greatest retail price that you would charge for the good or service. If you were selling in quantity you might sell at a discounted retail price.

[unpakwon]

It's been a big help.

Thank you for the explanation.