1/ Nearly every person involved in forecasting human activities that I've run across eventually crumble and become quite irritated with me. They present amazingly brilliant and precise algorithms that fits past data. Of course the past is not necessarily a window into the future

2/ BTW, we forecast EVERY single day as we test hundreds of products and forecast demand for purchasing. Is this doublespeak? No, for EVERY minute spent on forecasting, I obsess about what to do WHEN THEY ARE INEVITABLY WRONG. What do we do when demand erodes and we are "stuck"?

3/ What do we do when events show MORE demand than we originally forecasted? This is better than over supply. But developing BETTER forecasting models is largely a waste of effort but developing plans for liquidating excess inventory from algo error is never a waste of time.

4/ Approach ALL FORECASTING with an obsessive skeptical POV. In fact, ASSUME your projections will be wrong. Believing you can tame your forecasting model is a fool's notion. Forecasting humility will lead you to tactics to solve forecasting error.

5/ If you are in business, resist the Siren call to perfect your forecasting model and work hard to mitigate your forecasting errors....both past errors and future errors. This is where the real money is made because you clip your left tail.

6/ Unintended consequences of having Masks and More Outlet stores is that we are liquidating stuff that were errors in forecasting. We liquidate at retail at cost or most at a profit.