End-of-Day Discounting for a Decaying Perishable: A Triggered Single-Markdown Schedule That Maximises Computed Revenue

When should a seller of perishable produce start discounting, and by how much? Too early or too deeply gives away margin on stock that would have sold at full price; too late or too shallowly lets stock spoil that a lower price would have moved. This paper computes the answer for a stated case: leafy greens on a 6-hour day at 28 °C, full price $3.00 per bunch, baseline demand of 11 bunches per hour, and a demand rate that rises with the discount. The originated result is a triggered, single-markdown schedule. At the midpoint, count the stock remaining. If it exceeds 39.6 bunches — 1.2 times the 33 bunches expected to sell at full price in the remaining three hours — apply one markdown of 20 percent for the rest of the day. Otherwise hold full price. In the base case, starting with 100 bunches, full price all day gives revenue of $198.00, sells 66.00 bunches, leaves 13.68 unsold, and loses 20.32 to spoilage. The triggered schedule gives $213.05, sells 80.52, leaves 0.44, and adds $15.05, an uplift of 7.6 percent. Alternatives do less well: a two-step schedule (10 percent off at the midpoint, then 30 percent for the final 1.5 hours) reaches $210.87, and a markdown confined to the final 1.5 hours peaks at $206.02. At starting stocks of 60 and 80 bunches, no late markdown improves on full price at all — which is why the schedule is triggered by a count rather than applied by habit.