Locked Up

Following up on an earlier story: Office Depot traded me a fire-safe that actually has a key (we opened it to make sure this time) for the one that was missing one. They taped up the box-with-missing-key and marked it for return. The logistician in me cringes at that heavy box having to be sent back through their supply chain just so they can add a key to the box and send it out again. In fact, there are only so many key types for these things, and the box says on the lock which key type it is, so one could write to the manufacturer and get a replacement. But I suspect that it would cost more to do that in people's time than it will in transportation costs to lug a heavy box back and forth across the country because it's missing a tiny key.