What kind of commission structure is Willy Loman working under in Death of a Salesman? It certainly seems strange to me.
Willy: I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston...
Linda: ... That makes your commission .... $212!....... How much did you (really) do?
Willy: .... it came to roughly two hundred gross in the whole trip....
Linda: Well, it makes $70 and some pennies.
Apparently, when Willy doesn't sell much, he earns a commission slightly greater than 35%. But if he sells a LOT of merchandise, he earns only 212/1200 or 17.7%.
That is a really incentive-incompatible commission structure. No wonder Willy never sold much -- he had an incentive to make more, smaller sales trips. As a result, the company did less business and paid Willy more per hour (despite his growing failures as a salesman). Usually commission structures are designed to encourage salesmen to make more, bigger sales, not fewer or less.
Maybe Linda's math skills are weak?
That, or Arthur Miller (and his editors and publishers) were innumerate.