How do you calculate opportunity costs?

Quoted on this wiki

Every place a page here uses this source, in the order the words come in it.

1. A bean counter might look in the company’s payroll records and say that the cost of setting up the machine is 4 hours X $40 (the hourly wage and benefits of the setup person) = $160. An astute business person would say that the real cost of having this machine idle for 4 hours X $140 (the lost hourly contribution margin) = $560. “Even though opportunity cost of $560 per setup is not found in the general ledger accounts, it should be used when quoting or setting prices for using the machine.”

   In Outbound cost model

2. Calculating Opportunity Costs “The same holds true for the variable costs and expenses associated with the missed revenues and the missed opportunity.” Example of Calculating Opportunity Costs

   In Outbound ROI and payback