Demand for Quiggly Pops follows an up and down pattern over the four quarters of a year, with peaks in the spring and winter months when special promotions are held. Production is handled by a highly skilled local workforce during a regular $40-$hour week $($i$.$e$.,$ overtime and subcontracting are not used$).$ The company likes to zero out its inventory at the end of a year so that it can start fresh each January. QP currently uses a level production strategy but would like to evaluate other options. The cost and demand figures are given below. Beginning workforce $=40$ workers; Production per employee $=1,250$ units per quarter; Hiring cost $=$ $$500$ per worker; Firing cost $=$ $$500$ per worker; Inventory carrying cost $=$ $$1$ per unit per quarter; Regular production cost $=$ $$10$ per unit; Demand Qtr $1=70,000$; Demand Qtr $2=100,000$; Demand Qtr $3=50,000$; Demand Qtr $4=150,000.$ What is the cost of a level production strategy?