I know this is a tale of low-tech ingenuity and the knowledge from the field, but I like to take a slightly different moral from it: There was a problem the fi

I know this is a tale of low-tech ingenuity and the knowledge from the field, but I like to take a slightly different moral from it: There was a problem the field technician was able to solve, but he didn't because he didn't know it was such a grave problem or, most likely, he didn't have any stimulus to do it. In this case, he simply wasn't aware of empty boxes or the problem didn't matter to him. So, lack of internal communication was costing the company, and it was easier to pay millions to contractors than to offer some money to the field workers to solve the problem. Also, surely this was a urban myth, mostly because the expensive scales are needed not only to prevent empty tubes, but also to detect half-empty or quarter-empty tube, or barely below the legal limit.