Caiman Distribution Partners is the Brazilian distribution company of a U. S. consumer products firm. Inflation in Brazil has made bidding and budgeting difficult for marketing managers trying to penetrate some of the country's rural regions. The company expects to distribute 450,000 cases of products in Brazil next month. The controller has classified operating costs (excluding costs of the distributed product) as follows:

Account Operating Cost Behavior
Supplies $ 350,000 All variable
Supervision 215,000 $ 150,000 Fixed
Truck expense 1,200,000 $ 190,000 Fixed
Building leases 855,000 $ 550,000 Fixed
Utilities 215,000 $ 125,000 Fixed
Warehouse labor 860,000 $ 140,000 Fixed
Equipment leases 760,000 $ 600,000 Fixed
Data processing equipment 945,000 All fixed
Other 850,000 $ 400,000 Fixed
Total $ 6,250,000
Although overhead costs were related to revenues throughout the company, the experience in Brazil suggested to the managers that they should incorporate information from a published index of Brazilian prices in the distribution sector to forecast overhead in a manner more likely to capture the economics of the business.

Following instructions from the corporate offices, the controller's office in Brazil collected the following information for monthly operations from last year:

Month Cases Price Index Operating Costs
1 345,000 115 $5,699,139
2 362,000 117 5,806,638
3 358,000 118 5,849,905
4 380,000 122 5,927,617
5 374,000 124 5,939,135
6 395,000 125 6,043,364
7 367,000 128 5,918,495
8 412,000 133 6,133,868
9 398,000 133 6,126,130
10 421,000 132 6,186,625
11 417,000 136 6,208,799
12 432,000 139 6,362,255
These data are considered representative for both past and future operations in Brazil.

a-1. Determine the variable cost per case assuming that 450,000 cases will be shipped next month based on the controller's analysis of accounts. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

a-2. Prepare an estimate of operating costs.