Alex Mason has a wide-curving, uphill driveway leading to his garage. When there is a heavy snow, Alex hires a local carpenter, who shovels snow on the side in the winter, to shovel his driveway. The snow shoveler charges $30 to shovel the driveway. Following is a probability distribution of the number of heavy snows each winter.

Heavy Snows Probability

1 ....................1.12

2 ..................0.19

3 ..................0.24

4 ......................0.22

5 ...................0.13

6 ...................0.08

7 ...................0.02

1.00

Alex is considering the purchase of a new self-propelled snowblower for $575 that would allow him, his wife, or his children to clear the driveway after a snow. Discuss what you think Alex’s decision should be and why.