Information and IdeasEasy–MediumInference from a side effect
Information and Ideas practice question
A hardware shop moved its most frequently stolen items — batteries and small hand tools — behind the counter, where customers must ask for them. Since the change, thefts of those items have fallen sharply, but sales of them have fallen too, by nearly as much. This suggests that ____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
- A. some of the lost sales came from customers who prefer not to ask for what they want.Correct
- B. the items had never actually been stolen.
- C. the shop should stop stocking batteries and small tools.
- D. thefts of other items in the shop have increased.
Answer: A. some of the lost sales came from customers who prefer not to ask for what they want.
Thefts dropped, so the change worked as intended; but honest sales dropped almost as much. The one thing that changed for honest customers is having to ask, so the drop points to customers who won't.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. the items had never actually been stolen.
- Thefts fell after the change, which implies they were happening before it.
- C. the shop should stop stocking batteries and small tools.
- The text reports a cost of the policy; it says nothing about dropping the products.
- D. thefts of other items in the shop have increased.
- Other items are not mentioned at all.
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