SCP-4462 — SCP-4462 | Cost Breakdown

Read on SCP Wiki ↗

SCP-4462 Safe ✓ high confidence

SCP-4462

Expected annual

$56K

One-time setup

$54K

Annual recurring

$54K

Personnel

First-year setup costs are roughly $54.5k driven by room fit-out, transport, initial forensic and archival setup; ongoing annual costs are roughly $53.6k driven by staff inspections, forensic testing, interviews, and legal/PR contingency.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $54K

Facilities $12K

[#3] Containment room allocation and modest fit-out (reinforced lock, shelves, bench, signage, tamper-evidence).

Legal And Acquisition Fees $10K

[#2] Fees to legally transfer custody, local filings, lawyer time to draft cover/custody documentation, small payments to local authorities/embedded assets.

Equipment $10K

[#4, #6, #13] Climate control/humidity control and datalogger install, fixed surveillance camera and tamper sensors, and scanner/software purchase.

Secure Transport And Field Seizure $8K

[#1] Vehicle, containment team labor, fuel, hand-truck/straps, temporary evidence packaging, immediate field stabilization for transit.

Public Relations Setup And Legal Contingency $5K

[#18] One-time set-up of disclosure/PR contingency and legal fund establishing rapid-response capability.

Forensic Initial Analysis $4K

[#9] Initial forensic panel (ink/paper composition, age, trace residues) on representative samples.

Initial Acute Conservation $2K

[#14] Occasional one-time acute restoration/stabilization for severely damaged letters upon intake.

Sop Creation And Initial Training $2K

[#16] Development of handling SOPs and initial staff training.

Archival Storage Materials $2K

[#5] Acid-free folders, Mylar sleeves, archival boxes, pH pens, conservation tape, gloves, trays, labels — initial stock.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $0

[]

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $54K/yr

Cover Story And Legal $10K/yr

[#18] Annual PR/legal contingency fund for rare public exposures or witness handling.

Field Interviews And Travel $10K/yr

[#12] Travel, lodging, per diem, agent time, and occasional safe relocation for interviews/investigations.

Handwriting Analysis And Reports $8K/yr

[#11] Forensic handwriting/graphology fees and interview time for ~5 cases/yr budgeted at mid-range.

Staff Wages $6K/yr

[#7] Weekly inspection labor (≈104 hrs/yr) at loaded rate including 0.5 hrs/week admin/logging; budgeted ~ $5.5k + minor admin.

Forensic Testing Per Letter $6K/yr

[#10] Ongoing per-letter forensic tests (ink chromatography, fiber analysis, residues) budgeted mid-range.

Research And Monitoring $6K/yr

[#13, #14] Digitization cataloging, server/storage/backup and baseline archival conservation treatments (cataloging labor + occasional conservation).

Program Overhead And Administration $4K/yr

[#20] Administrative overhead (procurement, accounting, audits) estimated as a program-level overhead.

Facilities Maintenance $1K/yr

[#4, #19] Environmental control energy/calibration (~$200–500/yr) and minor equipment replacement/maintenance (~$500–1,500/yr).

Incremental Security Allocation $1K/yr

[#8] Marginal security/escort/overtime/badge administration attributable to controlling access to the small containment room.

Records Retention And Storage $1K/yr

[#17] Long-term physical archival box storage, digital backups, indexing and records maintenance.

Training Refreshers $750/yr

[#16] Annual refresher training for technicians/agents on handling SOPs and chain-of-custody procedures.

Supplies And Consumables $550/yr

[#15] PPE and consumables (gloves, masks, archival envelopes, labels, small tools).

Video Storage And Maintenance $400/yr

[#6] Video storage, archive retention, and periodic camera maintenance.

Logistics And Transport $0/yr

[]

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $54K/yr

88.0% probability / year

Normal uneventful year with routine weekly checks, digitization, occasional minor testing and regular contingencies.

weekly inspections routine forensic sampling regular conservation/cataloging

🚨 Public Exposure $94K/yr

2.0% probability / year +$40K vs baseline

A letter or the mailbox becomes public knowledge requiring emergency PR, legal action, and increased protective measures.

media leak local discovery becomes public prominent author reference sparks attention

🚨 Increased Letter Frequency $70K/yr

10.0% probability / year +$16K vs baseline

A year with an unusually high number of author deaths/letters, driving up forensic, interview, travel and conservation costs.

multiple high-profile author deaths clustered letter appearances

👥 Personnel 2 total

Role	Count	Notes
Research Technician / Level-1 Technician	1	[#7] Performs weekly inspections, logging, transfer to archival storage; primary staff accounted for in staff_wages.
Administrative Staff	1	[#7, #16] Part-time admin/logging and SOP/training coordination (incremental admin time included in staff_wages and training budget).

📋 Confidence Notes

SCP-4462 is Safe-class and the analyst notes provide detailed, itemized cost ranges for setup and recurring work; estimates are mid-range aggregations of those figures, so confidence is high.

← SCP-4461 ↑ All SCPs SCP-4463 →