> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://abundance.alloconomy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Costs Follow Work: What Happens After You Click? - URL: https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-01-costs-follow-work/ - Published: 2026-10-09T14:07:44.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-29T19:25:54.000Z - Description: A click can start a chain of real jobs. Follow a book order, a Prime benefit and a delivery to see what activity-based costing is trying to measure. - Author: Sathya Narayanan - Tags: Alloconomy, Foundations, Activity-Based Costing, #series-detail Foundations · Mental model 1 ## Follow the work: ten simple ideas 1. Start here[The ten-idea cheat sheet](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/activity-based-costing/)A simple map of the work behind a price. 2. Idea 1**Costs follow work**Current essayConnect a customer promise to the tasks behind it. 3. Idea 2[Different levels of work](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-02-different-levels/)Find what makes an activity repeat. 4. Idea 3[Averages hide differences](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-03-averages-hide-differences/)Compare equal shares with actual use of shared work. 5. Idea 4[Choose a useful measure](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-04-count-the-work/)Match the measure to the activity it explains. 6. Idea 5[Available and used capacity](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-05-ready-and-used/)Separate available time from time used by customers. 7. Idea 6[Extra steps add up](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-06-extra-steps/)Build a job from its ordinary steps and additions. 8. Idea 7[Follow the customer journey](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-07-whole-customer-journey/)Look at the help before and after a sale. 9. Idea 8[Ask what actually changes](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-08-what-actually-changes/)Compare the money that changes under a decision. 10. Idea 9[Use the time you free](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-09-give-saved-time-a-job/)Turn faster work into a chosen benefit. 11. Idea 10[Keep the model useful](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-10-keep-it-useful/)Measure enough to support the decision, then improve it. ## Begin with a promise Maya sells a book and promises to send it to Mayan's home. That promise creates a short list of jobs: find the book, pack it, print a label and arrange delivery. Each job uses something. Packing uses a person's time and a box. Printing uses a label and a printer. Delivery uses transport and someone's time. This gives us a simple chain: **customer promise → activities → resources**. ABC follows that chain to understand cost. A department name such as “operations” is too broad to explain what happened. “Pack this order” is a job we can observe. [![THE PROMISE: Send this book: to my home.; THE WORK: Find → pack → label: → deliver; THE RESOURCES: People + boxes: + transport](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f5/a9/f5a9f801-5a10-44d6-b07c-6658660be1a9/content/images/2026/10/01-abc-01-costs-follow-work.png)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f5/a9/f5a9f801-5a10-44d6-b07c-6658660be1a9/content/images/2026/10/01-abc-01-costs-follow-work.png?ref=abundance.alloconomy.com) Name the work before sharing the bill. Numerical examples are illustrative; actual business economics require case-by-case analysis. [Open full-size infographic](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f5/a9/f5a9f801-5a10-44d6-b07c-6658660be1a9/content/images/2026/10/01-abc-01-costs-follow-work.png?ref=abundance.alloconomy.com). ## Put a number on one job Suppose packing one ordinary order takes 4 minutes. Imagine the cost of providing packing time is 50 cents a minute. The order uses **4 × $0.50 = $2** of packing time. If gift wrapping adds 3 minutes, the order now uses 7 minutes, or **$3.50** of that time. Gift paper would be another cost. These invented numbers make one point: a new promise can add a new step. We do not need to split every company bill to see it. A box bought for this order can be counted directly. Shared resources, such as a packing team's time, need a sensible way to connect them to the orders they serve. ## Apply it to Amazon Prime A membership is one thing a customer buys. The work behind its benefits is more varied. A parcel needs storage, picking, packing and transport. A Prime Video session needs video to be available and delivered to a screen. Amazon Music needs music to be available and delivered to a listener. Accounts also need help when something goes wrong. These are examples of activities to investigate. They are not a claim about Amazon's internal cost model. Amazon describes the benefits in its [Prime overview](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-benefits?ref=abundance.alloconomy.com). If we want to understand the bundle, we first draw its separate work paths. Dividing a bill equally among delivery, video and music would skip that step. A customer receiving a benefit without paying a separate charge does not mean the benefit takes no resources to provide. ## Apply it to DoorDash delivery Picture an order travelling from a restaurant to a home. The restaurant prepares the meal. A Dasher collects and delivers it. DoorDash provides the system connecting the order and can provide support. Keep those businesses separate. The restaurant's kitchen wages are not automatically DoorDash's kitchen wages. To study DoorDash, start with DoorDash's activities and payments; to study the restaurant, start with the restaurant's. [DoorDash's company overview](https://about.doordash.com/about/company?ref=abundance.alloconomy.com). Maya's first question is therefore: “Whose work am I costing?” Her second is: “What promise made that work necessary?” ## Try it A bookshop adds a handwritten birthday card to each gift order. What new activities appear? **Answer:** collect the message, write the card and place it in the package. A useful first measure might be minutes per card. **Carry this idea:** before asking who should receive a cost, name the job that used the resource. ## Source [ACCA: Activity-based costing](https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f5/technical-articles/ABC.html?ref=abundance.alloconomy.com) explains grouping activity costs and assigning them through measures of activity. The scenarios and figures above are illustrative. --- [← The ten-idea cheat sheet](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/activity-based-costing/) · [Different levels of work →](https://abundance.alloconomy.com/alloconomy/abc-02-different-levels/)