Dickeson--Job Costing - A Virtual Reality Check

"An hour in platemaking costs me $57.43." We forget that these costs are a virtual reality we conjure up for ourselves in order to make hourly business decisions.

Our belief in those costs changes from simile to metaphor—we no longer say our hourly cost to make a plate is like $57.43. We say it is $57.43! And when our competitor beats us on a bid, we say, "He doesn't know his costs."