1. Hiring Help Businesses incur many costs. Can you think of some advantages of hiring specialized professionals to perform certain tasks?

2. Lesson Objective Calculate the monthly telephone cost. Content Vocabulary utilities Public services, such as telephone, electricity, water, and gas. monthly service charge The base amount charged by a utility, such as a phone company, to its customers for use of its services.

4. Andy’s Laundry has 2 telephone lines and uses the $59.99 plan for the Flexible Advantage Calling Plan shown in Figure 19.1 below. Andy’s uses 550 minutes. A 3 percent federal excise tax is added to the bill. What is the total cost of its telephone service for the month? Example 1

5. Figure 19.1

6. Find the cost of additional minutes. (550 – 500) × $0.35 = $17.50 No additional lines. Example 1 Answer: Step 1

7. Find the federal excise tax. ($59.99 + $17.50) × 3% = $77.49 × 3% = $2.3247 or $2.32 Example 1 Answer: Step 2

8. Find the total cost for the month Monthly Cost of Cost of Federal Service + Additional + Additional + Excise Charge Minutes Lines Tax $59.99 + $17.50 + $0 + $2.32 = $79.81 Example 1 Answer: Step 3

9. Use the Flexible Advantage Calling Plan (Figure 19.1) above to find the total cost for the month. Monthly service plan: $119.99 Number of lines: 5 Number of minutes: 1,298 Federal excise tax: 3.5 percent Practice 1

10. $186.26 Practice 1 Answer

11. Use the Flexible Advantage Calling Plan (Figure 19.1) above. Century Homes has 3 telephone lines and uses the $89.99 plan. This month the company used 1,203 minutes, 20 minutes of domestic wireless long distance, and 15 minutes of roaming. The federal excise tax rate is 3 percent. What is the total cost for the month? Practice 2

12. $195.73 Practice 2 Answer