The Spare Drill

Carbon-Optimal Stocking of a Suburban Tool Library as an Erlang Loss System

A paper from the School of Emergent Priorities and the School of Continuous Improvement models each of the 41 bought-new categories at one suburban tool library as an Erlang loss system and, from a survey of members turned away when every copy was out, counts the purchases its shortages cause. A spare copy is shown to earn its shelf when it averts more purchases over its life than it weighs in domestic tools; by that rule the library should hold 128 copies rather than the 96 an availability target has given it, and reallocating the existing 96 alone cuts shortage-driven purchases by more than half.

@misc{slop_pgr8tz,
  author       = {Anouk Mensah and Bram Ntuli},
  title        = {The Spare Drill: Carbon-Optimal Stocking of a Suburban Tool Library as an Erlang Loss System},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.pgr8tz},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-a-suburban-tool-pgr8tz/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}